bats in trees

[ben lightfoot]

we were recently felling a large beech adjacent to a national speed limit A road with traffic management ect. removed all the brush wood and was left with the stem knocked off some large pieces for the hiab then had one more piece to do before being able to fell stem. because of the way it was twin stemmed the wood had twisted round each other so felled it below fork as it hit the deck it split open and there were 5 bats inside a small pocket no evidence outside the pocket showing signs of bats even the bat man said there would have been no way of telling without a thorough inspection just have to wait and find out if natural england will take it any further?

[skyhuck]

even the bat man said there would have been no way of telling without a thorough inspection

 

Not being funny, but is that not the point, a thorough inspection is required by law.

[Rod]

there was a woman on our course from something like natural england or sepa or something and she said it would have to be in the public interest to prosecute before they would. dont know if that helps

[ben lightfoot]

Not being funny, but is that not the point, a thorough inspection is required by law.

Very good point but something that led to a bit of a debate at college and am sure will open a tin of worms on here but who should take the most liability the person cutting or the person surveying. This is from the point of view of a contractor working for local authority so might be biased but i believe that the surveyer should carry a lot of weight some of the listed trees said be aware of bats surely if he has put this then a survey should be carried out before we are aloud to go in to carry out works. Dont get me wrong i do also believe that the climber/cutter also has a duty of care. Its certainly a tough call

[Mesterh]

Very good point but something that led to a bit of a debate at college and am sure will open a tin of worms on here but who should take the most liability the person cutting or the person surveying. This is from the point of view of a contractor working for local authority so might be biased but i believe that the surveyer should carry a lot of weight some of the listed trees said be aware of bats surely if he has put this then a survey should be carried out before we are aloud to go in to carry out works. Dont get me wrong i do also believe that the climber/cutter also has a duty of care. Its certainly a tough call

 

I would hope the inspector took ALL the liability or why should we use them.

The cutter/climber yes should take care but surely not be liable if an inspection was carried out before hand.

[Mick Stockbridge]

we were recently felling a large beech adjacent to a national speed limit A road with traffic management ect. removed all the brush wood and was left with the stem knocked off some large pieces for the hiab then had one more piece to do before being able to fell stem. because of the way it was twin stemmed the wood had twisted round each other so felled it below fork as it hit the deck it split open and there were 5 bats inside a small pocket no evidence outside the pocket showing signs of bats even the bat man said there would have been no way of telling without a thorough inspection just have to wait and find out if natural england will take it any further?

 

So what happened to the bats ?

[Dean Lofthouse]

just have to wait and find out if natural england will take it any further?

 

 

If they do take it further, all it will do is make people not contact them if they do accidently come across bats. Who's going to ring them if they are going to prosecute you for doing so.

[ben lightfoot]

good point dean i expect prosecution only occurs if people are knowingly killing bats and mick the bat people took them away to keep check of them although they were moving around they could have still been hurt luckily no torn wings which are a big concern as the wings are too fragile to stitch back up.

[skyhuck]

good point dean i expect prosecution only occurs if people are knowingly killing bats

 

NO,NO,NO!!!!

 

The law was changed, you have to have taken steps to ensure there are no bats of nesting birds present.

[Rod]

NO,NO,NO!!!!

 

The law was changed, you have to have taken steps to ensure there are no bats of nesting birds present.

 

and to ensure the tree is not a bat roost (even if its empty) as bats roosts are protected along with the bats.

 

you need a licence to do ANY work on a tree wich shows sign of being used as shelter by bats.