nature

The myth of bats and newts
Some species of plants and animals are given a high
level of protection by the Habitats Directive because
they are rare or restricted in their range. For some of
these species, such as the great crested newt, the
UK holds an internationally important proportion of
their population. Many European Protected Species
found in the UK such as newts, bats and dormice are
often highly vulnerable to development and changes
in land management.
Frustration has been expressed at some of the
challenges presented by this protection – for
example, the issue of bats in churches, and the
costs and delays sometimes associated with the
discovery of great crested newts on land proposed
for development.
The actual number of developments affected by
these issues is extremely small – but the frustrations
are very real.
The myth of bats and newts is that the only way
to resolve these issues is to remove these species
from the relevant annexes of the Birds and Habitats
Directives. In reality, these issues can be resolved
through smarter implementation without making
any change to the Directives – which is good news
for developers, who depend on the certainty the
Directives provide, and for communities too. It is
also good news for bats and great crested newts,
which remain in need of protection (with bats
showing early signs of recovery, while the status of
great crested newts is so poorly understood that the
most recent UK Government report lists their status
as “unknown”).
Better information: More information can help
us understand where populations really do need
protection. For example, Defra supported research
on Natterer’s bats and soprano pipistrelle bats. It
found that excluding Natterer’s bats from churches
is likely to harm their Conservation Status,
although with judicious use of deterrents under
licence, problems caused by bats in churches can
be mitigated. For soprano pipistrelles, however,
it showed that they use alternative roosts when
excluded from breeding roosts. Better information
can also help businesses to plan their initial
applications more judiciously, in order to avoid a
problem in the first place.
Favourable Conservation Status: Currently, most
decisions involving a protected species follow a
precautionary approach because the UK has not
defined Favourable Conservation Status—what
constitutes a healthy and sustainable population.
There is, therefore, no sound basis on which to
make judgements about the significance of any
impacts on a population. In other EU countries, this
issue has been addressed by defining objectives
for European Protected Species. The difficulty here
is not with the law, but with how we have chosen
to implement the law. This was highlighted by a
review of the Directives in England in 2012, and a
Government-led great crested newt task force is
already working to resolve these issues.
Left: great crested newt. Poor implementation of the Habitats Directive make it a scapegoat.
31