This content requires Adobe Flash Player version
or later.
Either you do not have Adobe Flash Player installed,
or your version is too old,
or there is a problem with your Flash installation and we were unable to detect it.
4.1 Roosting Bats A small number of trees (number not confirmed yet) which have been classified as having potential to support roosting bats will have to be removed to facilitate the construction of the cable. However, no tree roosts were recorded within the Onshore Cable Route and Converter Station Development Area during the surveys.
It should be
noted however that bats are known to move roost frequently, and can switch roosts every three days.
4.2 Commuting and Foraging Bats
There are multiple potential impacts to commuting and foraging bats as a result of the vegetation clearance (sections of hedgerow will have to be removed and areas of grassland will have to be stripped). The removal of vegetation will reduce the foraging habitat available to bats within the working width. This has the potential to cause a negative impact to bats which has the potential to reduce breeding success of certain bat species. Gaps in hedges may also mean that some species are reluctant to cross the gap, and are vulnerable to predation when they do.
The level of impact is likely to vary depending on how regularly used and important a hedgerow is to bats. For example the reduction in foraging habitat caused by the hedgerow section removals may have a more significant impact on regularly used hedgerows where a high level of bat activity was recorded (i.e. at Locations 27, 55, 64/65 and 119/120 where a minimum of 200 bat passes were recorded at each), compared to hedgerows where lower bat activity was recorded. In addition, due to the rarity of the species, any hedgerow with more than 5 Barbastelle passes should be considered as an ‘important’ hedgerow. The survey results indicate that only Locations 4 and 146/147 recorded >5 Barbastelle passes.
Bats are known to use hedgerows to commute along in order to navigate around the landscape and some species are potentially sensitive to gaps in hedgerows such as species for the genus Myotis/Plecotus due to the nature of their flight pattern. Species from the genus Nyctalus and Eptesicus and Nathusius Pipistrelle Bats are known to fly high and in open habitats and therefore are unlikely to be impacted be hedgerow severance. Common Pipistrelle and Soprano Pipistrelle Bat are generalist species and will tolerate gaps in hedgerows. There is very limited research regarding whether gaps present a significant problem for Myotis/Plecotus species. The gaps in hedgerows also have the potential to increase the risk of predation of bats. Bats will be more visible to potential predators while they fly across the gaps as they will have no cover.