Creature discomfort

Badgers

Developer Crest Nicholson has had to build a network of tunnels to protect a badger population at its 900-home Bolnore Village scheme near Haywards Heath, West Sussex. Tunnels were built beneath the estate’s service roads to discourage badgers from making risky crossings.

About the badger

Badgers are quite widespread in England, but lead a mainly nocturnal lifestyle. An adult can grow up to a metre long and weigh up to 14kg. They live in underground setts – some of them hundreds of years old – in large social groups. Earthworms are their favourite meal.

What are the tell-tale signs?

They’re creatures of habit and will break through, or dig under, anything in the way of foraging routes. They also do a lot of digging for worms, so it’s not hard to tell if they’re around.

What does the law say?

According to Neil Toner, partner at solicitor Lewis Silkin, the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 was created to outlaw badger-baiting, but also protects their habitat. It is an offence to wilfully injure or remove a badger, and to damage or obstruct a sett. If planners know of a sett network, they’re may impose conditions in the planning permission to protect them. A licence from English Nature will also be needed if a site has setts on or near it .

What’s the worst that can happen?

Developers and individuals can be fined up to £5000 or face six months’ prison for each sett interference, badger death or injury.

So what should I do?

Planning conditions could demand provision of artificial setts, feeding areas and tunnels. Badgers may not be relocated.

Who can help?

The National Association of Badger Groups (www.badger.org.uk), environment consultants, wildlife trusts and English Nature.

Bats

Swaythling Housing Society discovered a small nursery of pipistrelle bats in April 2002, while refurbishing one of its sheltered homes for elderly people in Mansbridge, Southampton. They called in a bat expert from English Nature who told Swaythling it would have to wait for the baby bats to be able to fly the roost before further work could be carried out. Once the bats were able to fly, three months later, work resumed and the refurbishment was completed incorporating bat bricks for roosting in on the building’s walls. Avril Ansell, supported housing team leader, says: “The bats have become a real feature and bat-watching has become a hobby for lots of residents.

About the bat

There are 16 species of bat in the UK; the pipistrelle is the most common. These tiny creatures weigh just 5 grams but can live for 16 years and will roost in groups in crevices, caves and roofs.

What are the tell-tale signs?

Droppings and sightings. Bats can be seen at dusk hunting for midges and flies.

What does the law say?

All bats are protected by the Wildlife and Country Act 1981 and the Countryside and Right of Way Act 2000. It is an offence to kill, injure or disturb them.

What’s the worst that can happen?

A £5000 fine or six months in jail for each bat harmed in any way.

So what should I do?

Space can be set aside in lofts, bat boxes are an option, as are special “bat bricks”, which have slots for roosts cut into them.

Who can help?

The Bat Conservation Trust (www.bats.org.uk), the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management and your local Statutory Nature Conservation Organisation.

Great crested newts

Newts were the first residents of Priory Vale, a 5500-home, £100m scheme in Swindon led by project manager Trench Farrow. An environmental consultant was called in and six breeding ponds had to be created. It’s a long process and so far has cost £200,000.

About the newt

In Britain there are three species of newt: the great crested, smooth and palmate. The great crested can grow to 16 cm and spends most of the year on land, returning to ponds during its breeding season at the end of winter. It can live for up to 27 years and is keen on low-lying areas in the Black Country.

What are the tell-tale signs?

Great crested newts are very elusive, but the best way to be sure is to monitor ponds in breeding season. If your site is in an area favoured by newts, call in ecological consultants to do a survey.

What does the law say?

The species is protected under the European Community Habitat directive and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to catch, handle, injure or kill great crested newts, or disturb their habitat. They are also a material planning consideration so developers must show the newts’ habitat will be both protected and maintained. If newts are found when work has started, work must stop until the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issues a licence and protective measures are put in place.

What’s the worst that can happen?

A £5000 fine or six months in jail per newt killed, hurt or disturbed.

So what can I do?

Developers may be told to build two new ponds for each one that gets closed, and these may have to be left to mature for up to two years. Two hundred newts need about 1 ha of land.

Who can help?

The Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. Local wildlife trusts may already have surveyed newt populations.

Slow-worms

Circle 33 had to delay a project by 11 months to relocate 1400 slow-worms. Work on a 9.4 ha brownfield site to create 94 homes near Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire had to be halted in late 2003 while 400 lizards were caught and relocated. The developer then had to wait for the lizards to come out of hibernation in March to move another 1000. The total cost of doing that, and the delay, was £350,000.

About the slow-worm

They can grow to 50cm long and are most common in Wales and the South-west of England. With a preference for humid habitats, these members of the lizard family reside in allotments, meadows and woodland margins.

What are the tell-tale signs?

Unlike many reptiles, slow-worms don’t like to sunbathe so the only way to tell if they’re around is to look under logs and rocks.

What does the law say?

Slow-worms are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which means it is an offence to intentionally kill or injure one. But, says Toner, section 10 of the act absolves people of guilt if they can show it was the result of a lawful operation (implementing a planning permission, for example) and was unavoidable. But a site must be surveyed by a wildlife trust, at your expense, if planners suspect the worms are present.

What’s the worst that can happen?

A £5000 fine or six months in jail if a slow-worm is killed or injured.

So what can I do?

Planners favour protecting them on site or moving them to a protected area on site. This needs adequate land; otherwise they must be transferred elsewhere. But they only come out when it’s neither too hot nor cold, so they’re hard to catch.

Who can provide help and advice?

British Herpetological Society (www.thebhs.org); wildlife trusts.