Nursery Roost Discovery

CEC’s bat experts were asked to undertake a bat survey at an old electrical substation. Steve Marshall, CEC’s Senior Bat Ecologist went on site and was delighted with what he found!

There were 14 lesser horseshoe bats within the substation – all heavily pregnant – so will be using the building as a nursery roost. They are gaining access into the building through a rusted mesh grilled vent on the rear of the structure. The substation is located on the edge of a nature reserve and SSSI and therefore the bats have found a very secure site in which to have and raise their pups.

Although plans for the building are not yet decided, this important roost has now enabled Western Power Distribution (WPD) to look into options….one of which is moving the equipment out of the building and putting it elsewhere; thus providing the “ultimate” mitigation of handing the building over to a protected species for them to use as a nursery roost.

Steve explains;

“It was great to see a rare species of bat using this building but then to realise that they were all pregnant females emphasised that this site was perfect as a nursery roost. WPD have been brilliant in handling this revelation. To consider leaving the building well alone and letting the bats use it as they need to is a fantastic attitude to have.”

However, should WPD decide that’s actually not a feasible option, CEC of course can help with providing a European Protected Species Licence, implementing other mitigation and advise on timings should the building still need to be used for its original intention.