Bats and tree work in the UK: what GOV.UK, Natural England advice and the Bat Conservation Trust say

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The GOV.UK protection and planning pages say they apply to England, and the protection page links separate guidance for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This page does not describe how to inspect a tree or survey for bats. It reports what the sources list. Wording from the GOV.UK pages is adapted under the Open Government Licence v3.0. A short paragraph on bats is also on the wildlife and the law page, and nesting birds are on the nesting seasons page.

How the law words it

GOV.UK says all bat species, their breeding sites and their resting places are fully protected by law as European protected species. It lists what breaks the law: deliberately capturing, injuring or killing bats; damaging or destroying a breeding or resting place; obstructing access to a resting or sheltering place; possessing, selling or transporting live or dead bats or parts of them; and intentionally or recklessly disturbing a bat in a structure or place of shelter. It says a guilty person could be sent to prison for up to 6 months, get an unlimited fine, or both.

Natural England's standing advice for planning authorities names the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 as the source of the protection, and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for the offences of disturbing, obstructing access to, possessing and selling bats. It says the offence of damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place applies even when no bats are present. The advice was last updated on April 7, 2025.

Activities the sources list

The GOV.UK protection page lists activities that can affect bats. They include renovating or demolishing a building, cutting down or removing branches from a mature tree, repairing a roof, installing lighting where it lights the entrance to a roost, removing commuting habitats such as hedgerows, watercourses or woodland, changing foraging areas, and using insecticides or treating timber.

Tree features in the planning advice

For development that involves felling trees, the standing advice says a survey should be asked for where roosts are likely and the tree has one or more of these features.

It is within ancient woodland or parkland, or is an ancient or veteran tree.
It is large and irregular, although the advice adds that individual bats are often found in smaller trees.
It has natural cavities, most commonly in ash, beech or oak.
It is damaged by rot, weathering, woodpeckers or lightning, and the advice says it can be dead.
It has loose bark or bark with crevices.
It is covered in dense ivy.

The same advice says the absence of a record in the National Biodiversity Network Atlas does not mean there are no bats, because it could mean there is no survey data for the place. It says the ecologist who carries out a survey has to hold the right survey licence.

What the Bat Conservation Trust says about trees

The Trust's page on roosts in trees says most bats in the UK evolved to roost in trees and that around three quarters of the species found in Britain are known to roost in them. It says bats cannot bore holes or make nests, so they use gaps made by other animals, natural decay or arboricultural methods. It says bats use different parts of a tree by season, with breeding females preferring warmer, insulated roosts in spring and summer, and bats in winter possibly moving deeper and lower into the tree. It names oak, beech and ash as particularly suitable, and lists trunk or branch cavities, woodpecker holes, loose bark, cracks, splits and thick ivy as features. It points to its Bats and Trees leaflet and gives the National Bat Helpline number, 0345 1300 228.

Licences GOV.UK lists

Kind	What the collection lists
Mitigation	An application form (A13), a mitigation class licence to allow low impact work on bat roosts (CL21), and guidance on the declaration for an application.
Survey	Survey or research licences at levels 1 to 4 (CL17 to CL20), and class licences for volunteer bat roost visitors (CL15 and CL16).
Possession and sale	Licences to possess European protected species, for taxidermists, for selling specimens taken before October 1981, and for handling bats for rabies testing.
Research	A licence to disturb or take bats for science or conservation (A34).

The protection page says a mitigation licence from Natural England is what can be applied for if harm to bats or their habitats cannot be avoided, and that the National Bat Helpline, run by the Bat Conservation Trust for Natural England, gives free advice on bats in a home or place of worship but not on building works that need planning permission.