National Planning Policy Framework and BCT's new guidelines

Hi all,

National Planning Policy Framework:

On the 27th of March 2012 the Government released the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This document has streamlined the planning policies that were implemented by the local authorities in a planning context.

Planning Policy Statement 9 (Biodiversity) is no longer valid, however circular 06/05 is to be used in conjunction with NPPF.

There were concerns from the nature conservation movement when the draft of the NPPF was published, the focus was on sustainable development, however there was no definition of what this was!!

In the NPPF which is now in force this has been revised somewhat compared with the draft, to include a definition of sustainable development.

So why was there so much concern?

Put simply the EU habitats directive and bird directive had been mostly ignored. After a lot of lobbing from the major nature organisations such as BCT, the Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and National Trust amendments were made.

Most importantly were EU protected species are concerned there is no presumption in favour of sustainable development. As in the previous planning polices, full and up to date information concerning the species should be available.

What this means in practise we are yet to find out, but the interpretation should be that full surveys for protected species should have been undertaken before planning is granted.

New BCT Survey Guidelines:

At roughly the same time the new 2nd edition of the BCT survey guidelines have been released. These are now much more focused on the commercial ecology industry.

Clarification of some of the minor issues from the previous 1st edition have been made clearer e.g. the consultant is to use expert judgement and the guidelines to make decisions.

Another issue was the de-facto two dusk and one dawn survey, the guidance now says that if a dusk/dawn is undertaken in the same 24hr period that is classed as one survey.

I hazard a guess that this will cause further issues as no definition of a 24hr period is given, common sense would say that this should be a 24hr rotation of the clock, however I can see that certain people will interpret this differently.

Overall the guidance should clear up minor issues from the 1st edition and make the consultants job easier.

Martin

East of England Bat Conference

Hi all,

Saturday saw the second East of England regional bat conference.

There were some very good talks and the chance for some networking.

Season Begins

Morning all

The bat season offically starts today, with the first survey kicking off tomorrow evening at Stockgrove CP.

Athough bats have and will be about the temperatures are not looking to good, usually a temperture of 5oC or above means there will be plenty of bat activity, however the days of late have been great but night-time temperatures have been low, with tonights low expected to be 1oC.

This means that the invertebrates that bats prey on are unlikely to be about and therefore bat activity will be low.

Hopefully we will hear the usual species, and it gives us a chance to 'get our ear' back in.

Martin

The Midlands Conference

Hi all,

I went to the midlands conference yesterday to run a bats and trees workshop. Having arrived on site at about 10.50am I sat in on the main talks until the workshop went ahead at 2pm.

Having never been to the site before I was a little concerned that there wouldn't be any good 'bat trees' but after walking around for an hour, there was plenty to choose from.

Hopefully the walk and talk wasn't to bad and everyone learnt something!!!

Martin

Yesterday, A small number of the BBG and a colleague were doing a badger training day, we were in Kings Wood (Houghton Conquest) and we happened apon an oak tree with a hole in it.

Polly had her endoscope on her so we had a look, where were a minimum of two brown long eared bats and a possible third in the cavity.

Martin

Dawn Swarming

This short clip taken by Angie Cornwell in the summer shows dawn swarming at the largest soprano pipistrelle Pipistrellus pygmeaus roost in Bedfordshire.

The roost consists at its peak in excess of 1500 bats, being a maternity roost. It has been monitored for several years now and numbers have been growing year on year. The main concern was that the space they use to roost would be to small for much more expansion, however several licenced members gained access into the roost over winter and it would seem that there is still plenty of space for growth yet.

The above clip is a snap shot of the dawn swarming process, which can last for up to and beyond an hour, this is were lots of bats fly around the entrances to their roosts (swarm) before entering the roost for the day. There are two types of swarming the dawn as above and autumn swarming which is quite different.

Autumn swarming is a prolonged process happening over several hours and late into the night, involving far fewer bats. It occurs at hibernation sites, and several thoeries have been suggested as to why bats do this.

One of these is that the mothers are showing that years young the hibernation sites, another is that its has something to do with mating ensuring that genetic diversity is maintained in a population. Most bat groups are now undertaking work at autumn swarming sites to learn more about this behaviour.

Martin

Third Hibernation Survey

On the weekend of the 11th February the group undertook their final hibernation check of the winter. As it turns out the totals for this February was a record count with 125 bats across all the sites. The two pictures above show two of the species which were found.

These were taken by myself (Martin O'Connor) the top one is a barbastelle Barbastellus barbastella one of 10 located in the largest of the hibernation sites, with the bottom one being a brown long eared bat Plecotus auritus.

 On the Sunday a rather cold looking BLEB was found in another site, see below:

You can see the frost on the bat above, does make you wonder if the bat has survived.

Hibernating Lesser

Myself and the better half went to Cheddar for the weekend, whilst wondering around the caves we came across this little fellow.

There were about 6 lesser horseshoes Rhinolophus hipposideros in the two caves we went into.There were almost certainly more bats in there but with the number of crevices and large chimneys in the roof of the cave we were lucky to see the ones we did.

Homemade Harp Trap

Hi all,

The bat group have decided to build there own harp trap this winter.

Aidan, Bob and I are just coming up with idea's at the moment but I will bring you more news as and when we have started the project.

I am hoping to document the process so can bring you the design and stages to completion.

Martin

Second Hibernation Survey

Over the weekend the group undertook the second hibernation survey across Bedfordshire. In total 146 bats of five speceis were found across the sites. The largest site had 101 bats found, including two pipistrelles Pipistrellus spp.

The photo above shows two different speceis in a bat brick in one of the purpose built hibernation sites across the county. Can you identifiy them?

There is one final survey in January, I will be leading on the Saturday and am hoping to see the six barbastelles Barbastella barbastellus that were found in the largest site. One barbastelle was found in a little site on the Sunday, which in the past has had them in.

I bring another update once these are complete.

Martin