Bat Surveys
Bats are common throughout Ireland and all Irish bat species are protected under Irish and European Law. This means it is an offence to deliberately capture, kill or disturb a bat. In addition, it is an offence to destroy a breeding site or resting place of a bat.
Where a development has the potential to disturb bat species, or its feeding or breeding grounds, a bat survey report must be submitted to the planning authority as part of the planning application.
Planning Consultancy Services offers a range of Bat Survey options to suit your planning application. We specialise in:
- Preliminary Roost Inspections. This type of survey can be done at any time of the year and its aim is to identify the potential of a structure or tree to host bat populations.
- Nighttime Activity Surveys. These surveys will identify what species of bats (if any) utilise the subject site as feeding/commuting grounds, and levels of activity within the site. Surveys are weather dependant and must be conducted during the optimal survey season (May-August).
- Summer Roost Surveys. These usually consist of a daytime inspection to assess the suitability of the structure to support bat populations and a nighttime emergence survey to identify which species (if any) in the roost and to quantify the number of bats using the roost. Surveys are weather dependant and must be conducted during the optimal survey season (May-August).
- Winter (hibernation) Surveys. These surveys involve a detailed inspection of the potential roost structure to identify if bat species are present.
When all relevant data is collected a bat survey report is prepared to detail methodology, results and mitigation measures if applicable. Planning Consultancy Services in partnership with experienced ecologists delivers comprehensive bat survey reports to accompany planning applications.