Submitting Bat Records
…the easiest way for you to contribute to local bat conservation!
All UK bats are protected by the European Habitats Regulations (yes, even after Brexit!) and so when developments are going forward, small or large, usually their planning permission only happens after a search for nearby bat records. If bats are found, the development has to take them into account by what’s called the Mitigation Hierarchy. Basically they have to avoid harm or disturbance, mitigate that disturbance if it is unavoidable, and if there is no way to mitigate, the developer must compensate for the loss of habitat/roosts etc. So if you know, for example, of a roost and there is no record of it at the local records centre, then it won’t come up on pre-development record searches and planning authorities won’t know to insist on protection. So, basically, submitting records of the bats that you see DIRECTLY helps to protect them, their roosts and important habitat features like dark corridors. You can submit your records RIGHT HERE by filling in this form below. We need four basic pieces of information:
Who, What, Where and When.
If you’re looking at the form below, and still feel confused on how to submit your bat records. Check out the video, where our Chair Bekie explains just HOW easy it is to submit your bat records to us!
In the run up to our new provisional atlas being released in October 2022, please submit ANY bat records you have (old and new!) to us via the form before the 30th of August for it to be included in our new provisional atlas!
We are only interested in records within Birmingham and the Black Country.
If you’re outside of our area, you can submit your records via iRecord and they will automatically be verified and forwarded to your local biological records centre, or alternatively you can send them to your local Biological Records Centre directly. Any way you do it, you’ll be saving bats!