A total of 14 buildings were present within the site of which 13 had bat roost suitability confirmed by an initial preliminary bat roost assessment (PBRA) completed by Applied Ecology. In accordance with best practice bat survey guidance, a manual bat activity survey to check for the presence of roosting bats in buildings across the site was devised and completed by a team of experienced bat surveyors from Applied Ecology. State of the art thermal video cameras, alongside conventional electronic bat detectors were used to help the surveyors see in the dark, with up to six thermal cameras being deployed on each survey visit. The after dark bat activity survey findings were consistent with the results of the PBRA, and verified the presence of small day roosts of three bat species in four buildings: common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus, brown long-eared bat Plecotus auritus and serotine Eptesicus serotinus.

The thermal video cameras allowed 100% visual acuity throughout each survey, enabled the locations of bat roosts on each building to be accurately located, and provided confidence that bat roosts had not been missed.