What Wildlife Could Your Building Plans Endanger?
04 October 2012
Before you start building anything you need to get building permission. If you are planning to build on land where there have been records of protected species within two kilometres or the land is two kilometres within the sort of habitat for protective wildlife, then you will need to have a protective species survey taken out.
Before you start building anything you need to get building permission. If you are planning to build on land where there have been records of protected species within two kilometres or the land is two kilometres within the sort of habitat for protective wildlife, then you will need to have a protective species survey taken out.
Below is a
list of the protected wildlife species that an Ecological consultant will be
looking for, their habitats and why they are protected.
Bats. The horseshoe bat and the typical bat are both
European protected species. Bats are nocturnal, hibernate over the winter and
have secure and hidden habitats so their presence on a site may not be
immediately obvious. Bats have a slow breeding rate only able to produce one
young at a time so it is important that their roosts are protected as it will
take a long time for a colony to recover.
Butterflies. Heath fritillary, high brown fritillary, marsh
fritillary, wood white are all protect species in the UK, large blue butterfly
is also a European protected species. These butterflies like a range of
habitats such as: heathland; rich, rough, closely grazed grassland; wild and
managed woodland; moorland; meadows and damp meadows. As they have such a wide
range of habitats it is likely you could have a species of protected butterfly
on your site.
Mice. The dormouse is a European protected species.
Mostly found in the south the dormouse spends three quarters of its life
asleep. They live buried away in woodland and in overgrown hedgerows. As they
spend a large proportion of their life dormant and hidden away it may be
difficult to see if your site has them.
Lizards. The sand lizard is a European protected
species. It is very rare to spot one and they mostly live in heathland, the intertidal
zone and on sand dunes. As they are so rare it is important you get a
professional ecological consultant to check if there are any on your site
before you start construction and disrupting their habitat.
Leeches. The medicinal leech is protected in the UK. A
fresh water amphibian they live in shallow muddy water and in ditches by
grazing animals. As they were used for medical purposes in the 17th century
they became victim to being collected in the wild. Their population has never
fully recovered.
Newts. The great crested newt is a European protected
species. They live in networks of ponds in lowland habitats preferably near
farmland. They hibernate outside of their breeding season and live on the land
in rough grassland, scrub and woodland. They are protected because of loss of
habitat due to agricultural and urban intensification and fish eating their
larvae.
Otters. The Eurasian otter is a European protected
species. The otter population suffered from 1950-1990 due to pollution in the river
ways and a lack of fish. They live in
the banks of waterways such as rivers, lakes, streams, marshes and coastal
areas.
Snails. The sandbowl snail is protected in the UK.
This snail is extremely rare and lives in damp hollows in sand dunes by the
coast and in chalky mud uplands.
Insects. The southern damselfly is protected in the UK.
This rare dragonfly lives near shallow, slow moving water by streams, acidic
heathland and water meadows. This insect is believed to have become protected
over the last thirty years due to the removal of grazing animals and lack of
habitats.
Badgers. The Eurasian badger is protected in the UK.
They live in woods, copses and hedgerow near pastures. Badgers and their setts
became protected in 1992 as people killed them for sport and high road causalities
threaten their population.
Birds. Barn owl, bearded tit, black-tailed godwit, cirl
bunting, common quail, crossbills, firecrest, garganey, goshawk, harriers, hobby,
honey buzzard, hoopoe, kingfisher, little ringed plover, Mediterranean gull, merlin,
peregrine, serin, little tern, roseate tern, cetti’s warbler, Dartford warbler
and the woodlark are all protected in the UK. They range in rarity from
endangered to declining and vulnerable and are protected from disturbance to
their nests.
If you
think your planned building works will take place in any of these species
habitats then you should seek the advice of an Ecological consultancy who are always happy to take out Ecological surveys.
