Bat Roost Assessment Report

4 Christian Street, Ramsey; Report on a preliminary assessment for roosting bats wrt PA 24/00025/B<br><br>- report commissioned by Mr T Goodliffe by email on 4th September 2024<br><br>

Report compiled 10th September 2024, revised 12th September 2024

Quality Assurance

The author holds a Manx Bat License, previously held a UK Bat Roost Visitor’s License and has 40 years experience studying bats in both the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom.

This report has been prepared following the Bat Conservation Trust’s guidelines contained in Bat Surveys for Professional Ecologists: Good Practice Guidelines (4th ed). However, no night vision aids were used during the emergence survey as the property was illuminated by a nearby street light.

CONTENTS	CONTENTS
Summary	2
Introduction	2
Methods	2
Results	2
Evaluation	4
Impact Assessment	4
Caveats	4
Recommendations	4

Summary

The property has negligible potential for roosting bats as a maternity colony. There is limited potential for individual bats to roost in the external walls but this potential is greater during the hibernation period.

Introduction:

A preliminary assessment for roosting bats and nesting birds was requested by the Planning Director as a condition of a planning approval for application # 24/00025/B.

4 Christian Street is the former premises of a funeral directorship and consists of three garages surmounted by one room in a corner property joined to others to the rear and south side.

Methods:

Two members of the Manx Bat Group attended on the evening of 9th September 2024 to inspect the property and assess its suitability for roosting bats.

An emergence watch was conducted with one observer watching each elevation using anabat Scout bat detectors. The watch lasted until 75 minutes after sunset.

Results:

The property is joined to its neighbours to the west and south and only the east facing roof could be seen externally. It is oriented N – S with the long elevation facing east and the exposed gable facing north.

Work has been started on the property to stabilise the walls. Consequently only the first floor joists are present permitting views up to the underside of the roof. This has been sprayed with expanding foam at sometime in the past sealing the underside of the slates. The roof is carried on “A” frames but no bats could be seen clinging to any of the woodwork.

The south gable wall has been reinforced internally with a new concrete block wall to approximately wall head height, standing off the original wall by a few centimetres. Above the breeze block wall the brickwork is covered by thin wooden sheeting.

The upper windows and loading door are all boarded up and provide no internal access for bats. There are three former garages at ground level, now with building materials inside. They are of varying size with the northern space having formerly been tiled out, with some tiles still in place. No bat droppings were seen on any of the floors. All doors were close fitting and would not permit internal access for bats. Externally, the roof could be seen to have been repaired in the past with thinner slates. Where the two thicknesses of slates met there were some evident gaps which might permit bats to slip underneath but internal access would be prevented by the expanding foam inside. There were no gaps visible beneath the ridge tiles. On the east elevation, Manx stonework is confined to the upper level with the small amount of masonry at lower level being rendered. Two or three cavities were noted in this part which could permit access to individual bats. There were three or four deep cavities in the northern gable, above head height which, again, could permit access to individual bats.

Photo A: View of property from the east<br><br>	Photo B: North gable with bricked up loading door at first floor level and boarded up door at street level<br><br>

Photo C: East elevation<br><br>	Photo D: Close-up of first floor loading door<br><br>

During the emergence watch no bats were detected on the Anabat Scouts and none were seen. Evaluation

The property is in a highly built-up area of Ramsey with limited foraging opportunities in the immediate vicinity. The two walls which do show limited potential roost features face either east or north and receive little insolation to provide warmth. It is considered that bats do not use and are unlikely to use the building

Impact Assessment The proposed works will have no impact on bats and no mitigation is required for bats. Given the orientation and position of the building it is considered that bat box provision would be inappropriate. Caveats

Apart from maternity roosts, bats can be found individually or in low numbers in buildings for a variety of reasons, depending on the season, from hibernating, dayt shelter, mating or occasional roosts. Sometimes such roosts are occupied opportunistically and cannot be predicted in advance. If a bat is found in the course of the development then work should cease and advice sought from DEFA Biodiversity officers.

Recommendations

During any works to the exterior stonework any cavities should first be checked for occupancy by bats before either re-pointing, re-rendering or removal of stone to create new windows or doors.

N J Pinder, BSc., MSc. Recorder, Manx Bat Group 12/09/2024