Project Description
Barn Conversion | North Wales
Avian Ecology provided ecological services in support of a planning application to convert a barn into living accommodation. The barn was known to be used by bats and a European Protected Species (EPS) derogation licence would be needed before any work could go ahead. We completed a series of surveys to establish what species were present and how they were using the building. A daytime scoping survey combined with a series of evening emergence and morning re-entry observations confirmed the presence of pipistrelle, brown long-eared and lesser horseshoe bats. A mitigation strategy was designed and, through early discussion with the Local Planning Authority and Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the planning application was approved and a derogation licence granted from NRW. We are currently working on the approved mitigation measures for bats within the development, including bat ‘fly-through’ space within the building, and roosting provision both on and off-site.