Natural England bat roost visit records from 2013 onwards

Bat Conservation Trust

Description

Records of bat roosts identified during visits by Natural England Volunteer Bat Roost Visitors (VBRVs) to dwellings, churches and public buildings. Zero counts are not included. This dataset is periodically updated with new records.

January 2013 onwards, but visits are only conducted on an 'as needed' basis according to the criteria described in the 'Purpose of data captured' section above

Geographic Description

Dwellings, churches and public buildings where there have been issues with bats or work is proposed that may affect bats througout England.

Purpose

Visits are arranged by BCT on behalf of Natural England to roosts in dwellings, churches and public buildings where there is an issue with bats or work is planned which may affect bats and does not require planning permission or listed building consent to give advice so the issues can be resolved or work carried out in a way that complies with the relevant legislation.

Data quality

All VBRVs are experienced and trained in carrying out visits before they begin to do their own. However the limitations of the ID method stated should be considered - for example a species identification from droppings will not be as reliable as one from a bat examined in the hand. The data has not been checked using NBN Record Cleaner and the format and information included was agreed with NBN and LRCs before records were compiled.

Methods

Varied. VBRVs will visit and where possible conduct a visual examination of a known or suspected roost site looking for bats and bat droppings or feeding remains. They may also conduct an emergence survey with or without a bat detector. The method of species identification is given for each record individually.

Citation

Natural England bat roost visit records from 2013 onwards, BCT (2019)

Rights

OGL

Digitised records