Before work could begin on Phase II of the Broad Avenue Restoration Project, all trees with potential bat roost features had to be inspected by an accredited ecologist. Trees that were identified in previous surveys as having high suitability bat roost features were individually inspected, to check for the presence of bats.
In this tree below, a Natterer’s bat was found. Under the bat licence the ecologist is permitted to relocate the bat to one of the bat boxes that had been installed to trees nearby; however, due to the narrow opening in this particular roost, it was not possible to safely remove it.
Whilst the bat was still situated in the roost, a bat exclusion device was carefully fitted over the opening. This device allows the bat to leave the roost, but not return. After a period of 5 days, the roost feature was reinspected to check that the bat had left. The ecologist used an endoscope to carefully check inside through the excluder, and fortunately the bat had left on its own.
Once confirmed as being bat free, the branch was carefully lowered to the ground so that it could be relocated on an adjacent monolith tree. The roost feature was then lifted up so that it could be strapped to the the monolith, so that it will hopefully be used in the future. The relocation of the roost feature was supervised by the ecologist, and its location recorded for future monitoring.
Of the 53 trees requiring aerial inspection for bats, a total of 4 bats were found with individual day roosts; these being two Brown Long Eared bats, one Natterer’s and one Soprano Pipistrelle bat. Of these, two features were successfully excluded to allow the bats to leave of their own accord, and two were safely relocated into adjacent bat boxes by the ecologists,
Phase II of the Broad Avenue Restoration project is expected to be completed in mid-October, with tree planting commencing next March. You can read more about this exciting project by clicking here.
