Trees and Ecology
The Risks Associated with Removing Trees and Vegetation and What to do if You Find Them
You’ve finally bought a plot of land to build your dream home on. It’s overgrown, there’s some trees and shrubs there, but surely, it’s easy enough to tidy that up, or perhaps even get on with your planning application, right? Not so fast!
It’s highly likely there will already be animals inhabiting the trees, shrubs and grassland on the site – and many of these species are protected by various laws and statutes. In this article, we explore the topic in a little more detail and offer some advice on your next steps if you need to remove trees, hedgerows or scrub.
Animals that could be present within trees, hedges, scrub and grassland include dormice, badgers, bats, birds, and even reptiles and amphibians! (Slow worms, snakes and great crested newts all make use of terrestrial habitat like long grass and rubble/debris piles. All of these species are protected by The Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2019. These are the two primary mechanisms for protecting Britain’s wildlife.
Cumulatively, they make it an offence to:
Intentionally kill, injure or take a wild bird or animal
Be in possession of any wild bird or animal or anything derived from them
Sell or offer for sale wild birds or their eggs
Intentionally or recklessly damage or destroy a nest, or other place of shelter or rest for wild animals (such as bat roosts)
Intentionally pick, uproot or destroy wild plants.
Animals and birds of all kinds reside in trees, hedgerows, scrub and grassland.
Signs to look out for include holes or deep cavities in trees (See Image), where species such as dormice, birds or bats could reside; holes under tree roots (badger setts), birds’ nests visible in tree branches and hedgerows, along with droppings nearby. On the ground you may find runways in grass, animal droppings, damage to vegetation and plants, and burrows underground, or dormice nests in along hedgerows.
Wildlife associations such as the RSPB recommend not cutting or felling trees and hedges between March and September, when birds are breeding and nesting, unless you are certain the chicks have left the nest (again, talk to an ecologist). You can read more about it on the GOV.uk web site here. Bats roost all year round in trees and with this in mind, if you suspect there could be a roost present it is vital to carry out a survey to ensure that their habitat is not interfered with, damaged or destroyed without a licence. (There might be extenuating circumstances that preclude a survey by an ecologist, such as windblown and dangerous trees, but it’s best to check if you can).
What should I do?…
If you suspect the presence of or find animals within your trees, hedgerows, scrub and grassland, the best next step is to get in contact with a professional ecologist. They will rapidly assess your land and with luck, confirm you are able to proceed without any delay. On occasion, after the first initial survey, a more intensive survey effort might be required to characterise the population and site use by a given species, in order for you to propose mitigation to your local authority (if applying for planning), or to obtain a licence for disturbance—say if you want to remove a tree that contains a bat roost.
Sometimes these surveys are seasonally restricted. For example, an emergence survey to investigate whether there is in fact a roost of bats is conducted at dusk and dawn, between the months of May and September! So, since we’re in the season now, if you think you might have bats, don’t leave it too late to find out, or you might end up having to wait until summer 2022…
For more information on our Tree and Vegetation Management please head over to our website by clicking the link below:
You can get more ecological information from Arbtech - They are a friendly bunch! Whether you want to book a survey or simply ask a question, pick up the phone or send an email.
Tel: 0808 178 1546
Email: email@arbtech.co.uk
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