PIPISTRELLE BAT (PIPISTRELLUS PIPISTRELLUS / PYGMAEUS) ACTION PLAN

THIS IS A REPRESENTATIVE PLAN FOR ALL SPECIES OF BATS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Compiled by The Wildlife Trust

This plan has been prepared by the Wildlife Trust in conjunction with the County Mammal Recorder, Phil. Richardson.

Lead Agencies Public Sector English Nature

Voluntary Sector The Northamptonshire Bat Group

1 INTRODUCTION

The Pipstrelle is the most common bat in the British Isles. It has recently been discovered that what was once considered to be a single species is actually two separate species, making it more difficult to assess the status and distribution of Pipistrelles. All species of bat found in Britain are legally protected and are considered to be priority species in the national Biodiversity Action Plan.

2 CURRENT STATUS

2.1 International / National Status

· Although it remains the most abundant and widespread bat species in the UK, the Pipistrelle is thought to have undergone a significant decline in numbers this century. Estimates from the National Bat Colony Survey suggest a population decline of approximately 70% between 1978 and 1993. The problems of estimating population trends have been compounded by the recent discovery that there are two species – the Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) which echo-locates at 45kHz; and, the Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus), which echo-locates at 55kHz. This action plan will cover both species

· Pipistrelles are protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

· The Pipistrelle Bat is listed in Appendix 3 of the Bern Convention, Annex IV of the EC Habitats Directive, and Appendix 2 of the Bonn Convention (and is included under the Agreement on the Convention of Bats in Europe).

· It is protected under schedule 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc) Regulations 1994 (Regulation 38).

2.2 Local Status

In Northamptonshire, records of the Pipistrelle Bat and its roost sites are collected by the Northamptonshire Bat Group. The two Pipistrelle species are the two most common bat species across the county.

3 CURRENT FACTORS CAUSING LOSS OR DECLINE

· Disturbance and destruction of roosts, e.g. loss of access to actual or potential sites through building alterations and loss of maternity roosts through the use of toxic chemical timber treatments.

· Loss of insect-rich feeding habitats, e.g. woodlands, woodland edge, field margins and wet pasture.

· Fragmentation of feeding habitats and flyways such as wetlands, hedgerows and other suitable prey habitats.

· Reduction in prey abundance, due to modern farming practices and inappropriate riparian management.

4 CURRENT ACTION

· The JNCC recently commissioned the Bat Conservation Trust to run the National Bat Habitat Survey, to provide information on habitat preference and distribution.

· The DETR commissioned a National Bat Monitoring programme. This programme includes the Pipistrelle.

· The National Bat Colony Survey has monitored many Pipistrelle roosts since 1978, recording the size of annual summer roost.

· Research is being carried out by a number of organisations investigating reproductive physiology, mating strategies, field activity, and the morphology and ecology of the two Pipistrelle species by investigation of echo-location calls and mitochondrial DNA.

· Scottish Natural Heritage has developed design briefs for the conservation of Pipistrelle roosts in houses.

· The Northamptonshire Bat Group continues to collect and collate sightings of the Pipistrelle Bat

· The Northamptonshire Bat Group gives a range of talks on various aspects of bat ecology, conservation and education.

· English Nature has a statutory duty to enforce the legal protection of bats. They are statutory consultees for planning applications which may affect bats.

5. PIPISTRELLE BAT OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS

	Objective	Action	Lead Agency	Partners	TargetS
5.1	Policy and Legislation
	Objective One: Ensure the protection of the species under the instrumentation of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981	Ensure the implementation of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981	English Nature		Throughout the Plan Period
	Objective Two: Maintain current licensing procedures and training schemes as appropriate. Assess the effect of current management and protection policies and amend as necessary to ensure maintenance of healthy populations		English Nature	Wildlife Trust Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group Bat Group	2005
	Objective Three: Improve and/or maintain water quality	Encourage improved water quality standards to help support healthier populations of aquatic insects.	Environment Agency	Anglian Water, other water companies	Throughout the Plan Period
	Objective Four: Ensure that Bat species are given an appropriate level of protection by local authorities	Include species protection policies in local plans and/or supplementary guidance	Local Authorities		By 2003
		For sites were there is reasonable suspicion that bats are present, planning authorities should ensure that a comprehensive bat survey and any necessary mitigation is a condition of planning permission	Local Authorities		By 2003
		Ensure that building works are carried out in accordance with planning permissions	Local Authorities		By 2003
	Objective Five: Ensure that the opportunities for bat conservation are maximised through agri-environment schemes	Consider the requirements of the bats when reviewing agri-environmental schemes. Monitor the effectiveness of the specific measures	Dept. for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (agriculture) Forestry Commission (woodland)	Bat Group	2005
5.2	Site Safeguard And Management (including Species Management and Protection)
	Objective Six: Ensure the conservation of existing and potential roost/breeding sites and feeding areas	Encourage the conservation of standing deadwood habitats	Forestry Commission	Local Authorities, English Nature	Throughout Plan Period
		Ensure that waterside trees and structures are retained as roosting sites and feeding areas	British Waterways, Water Companies, Environment Agency		Throughout Plan Period
		Install artificial roosts in strategic sites, identified as suitable, especially when known roosts are lost	Bat Group	Wildlife Trust	Throughout Plan Period
	Objective Seven: Ensure the conservation and provision of suitable feeding areas in the vicinity of breeding/roost sites	Encourage favourable management of land adjacent to known roost sites to support foraging by juvenile Pipistrelles. Particularly through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme	Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group	Bat Group, Wildlife Trust, Local Authorities, RSPB, Environment Agency	2004
5.3	Advisory
	Objective Eight: Provide advice to planning authorities to ensure that bats are not affected by building demolition, development, refurbishment and renovation	Comment on planning applications affecting all bat habitats	English Nature	Bat Group, Wildlife Trust	Throughout Plan Period
		Provide guidance for planning and building control officers, developers and architect on bat conservation in buildings	English Nature	Bat Group, Wildlife Trust	By 2002
		Provide an advisory and monitoring service in relation building projects		English Nature Bat Group	Throughout Plan period
	Objective Nine: Ensure that the owners of buildings/features containing bat roosts/breeding sites are aware of the presence and legal status of Bats and advise on appropriate methods for their conservation		English Nature	Wildlife Trust’ Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, Bat Group, Local Authorities, Forestry Commission	Throughout Plan period
	Objective Ten: Provide advice to regulatory authorities concerned with the management of trees and woodlands	Ensure that felling licence applications and other tree management works do not affected existing bat roosts or breeding sites	English Nature	Local Authorities, FC	By 2002
5.4	Future Research and Monitoring
	Objective Eleven: Develop and implement a systematic survey to clarify the status of the species in Northamptonshire	Identify the location of all breeding and major roost sites in Northamptonshire	Bat Group		By 2005
		Distinguish between the status of the two distinct Pipistrelle species within Northamptonshire	Bat Group	English Nature Wildlife Trust	By 2010
	Objective Twelve: To calibrate existing survey data for accuracy	Ensure statistically based estimates of population size cannot be challenged in legal disputes relating to developments or tree-felling		English Nature, Wildlife Trust, Bat Group	By 2005
	Objective Thirteen: Improve survey and monitoring techniques and ensure that all records are kept in a compatible form to allow a free and regular flow of records between the databases		Bat Group / Wildlife Trust	English Nature, Wildlife Trust, Bat Group	By2005
	Objective Fourteen: Regular long-term monitoring of the Pipistrelle Bat in Northamptonshire to assess the impacts of both development and the Species Action Plan	Monitoring of summer maternity roosts and the extent and effect of reproductive isolation of summer colonies used for monitoring	Bat Group	English Nature	Throughout plan period
		Ensure that DETR/JNCC incorporates the Pipistrelle surveys and sightings into the framework of the proposed national Mammal Monitoring Network (MaMoNet)	Wildlife Trust		2001
	Objective Fifteen: Pass information gathered during local surveys and monitoring to the national database and contribute to the maintenance of an up-to-date Red List		Bat Group	English Nature, Wildlife Trust, Bat Group	Throughout plan period
5.5	Communications and Publicity
	Objective Sixteen: Raise public awareness of bat conservation	Maintain current programmes of carefully supervised roost visiting, general education and publicity	Bat Group	English Nature, Wildlife Trust, Forestry Commission	Throughout plan period
5.6	Review
	Objective Seventeen: Review the Pipistrelle Bat action plan to assess progress and, where necessary, update and amend		Bat Group	BAP Partners	2005
	Objective Eighteen: Publicise the progress made in delivering this Action Plan in a BAP Annual Report			BAP Partners	Annually

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