Bats

[PocketSand]

Just found out we have bats roosting in the attic. Attic insulation, solar panel fitting, ASHP all come to a grinding halt as bats are protected species and can't be disturbed. Also not allowed to block up access when they leave because they are likely to want to come back next year.

Anybody else faced this problem and what did you do?

In the same position, following.

Try garlic.

You are going to want to speak to an ecologist asap.

Most of them will be very busy this time of year.

Were you in the middle of works when they were discovered or did you not get started ?

I am an ecologist btw but I can’t really give you specific advice over the interest - plus bats are not my speciality area as much as they are for some.

You may need a survey done and are limited as to when you can do work.

There are options for you - but it’s likely the works will be delayed to an extent while it’s sorted out.

You need to contact your local Bat Protection. We had a chap come round (Bat Protection Officer) to assess and give us advice. You can only doing things at certain times of year.

We have cohabited with a loft full of bats quite happily for 25 years 😀

@PocketSand - they are actually called Bat Conservation I think. You can find their details online. Hopefully they will have a local person to give you the right advice.

You will need to get a bat survey to ascertain species and type of roost. You will need a bat mitigation report and a licence from natural England.
We haven't yet gone for our licence and we are 10k in as we have two types of bat one of which is a maternity roost.

We were having insulation/retrofitting of ASHP, solar panels with a grant for benefit claimants. Do the bat conservation have similar grants?

I wouldn’t have thought so - their purpose is to protect bats not enable you to have works done to your home.

You may - may - be able to get some free advice from them but they are a conservation charity so generally focus on helping people
live with bats rather than enabling works - that’s what a professional ecologist is for.

Sorry I appreciate you are in a difficult situation as you are not funding the works yourselves.

Can you speak to whoever you got the grant from ?

Give them a call - you might come under the bat roost visitor service but I’m not 100% here. It will depend on if they think the extent of the worms are within their remit or not. Apparently it’s usually small scale maintenance but this might come under that ?