Ecologists Samuel Olney and Josh Butterworth undertook our first ‘in-house’ tree-climbing project recently.
Pictured here they are conducting Aerial Inspection Surveys of Potential Roost Features (PRFs) that had been previously graded as having potential to support roosting bats during Ground Level Tree Assessments (GLTAs) across a range of sites through the west and south west.
Samuel and Josh are experienced ecologists who are certified certified tree-climbers through the use of various rope access techniques (at least one of the pair is a NE licensed bat ecologist).
The inspection surveys involve the use of torches and endoscopes to look for evidence of bats or bats themselves and to re-evaluate the potential of the features identified previously from ground level.
Taken from the BCT guidelines – “The aim of this survey is to reclassify PRFs and determine the presence/absence of bats at the time of the survey and the need for further survey and/or mitigation”. All our surveys are based on the BCT guidelines within data collected in line with the Bat Tree Habitat Key (2018)
More information about our bat survey work at https://www.geckoella.co.uk/ecology/#bat-surveys