Bats and the Law

All UK bats and their roosts are protected by law. Since the first legislation, introduced in 1981, that gave strong legal protection to all bat species and their roosts in England, Scotland and Wales, additional legislation and amendments have been implemented in all countries within the UK.  For all countries of the UK therefore, the legal protection for bats and their roosts may be summarised as follows:

You will be committing a criminal offence if you:

1. Deliberately* capture, injure or kill a bat
2. Intentionally or recklessly disturb a bat in its roost or deliberately disturb a group of bats
3. Damage or destroy a bat roosting place (even if bats are not occupying the roost at the time)
4. Possess or advertise/sell/exchange a bat (dead or alive) or any part of a bat
5. Intentionally or recklessly obstruct access to a bat roost

*In a court, 'deliberately' will probably be interpreted as someone who, although not intending to capture/injure or kill a bat, performed the relevant action, being sufficiently informed and aware of the consequence his/her action will most likely have.)

There are a few defences in law; for instance, low-level disturbance of bats or obstruction of a roost access may be construed as 'the incidental result of an otherwise lawful operation'.  However, it would be a matter for experts to ascertain whether the disturbance was considered to be of a low enough level to fall within this defence.  Similarly, it would be for experts to ascertain that obstruction of a roost access didn't amount to damage or destruction of a roost.  Depending upon the detail of the actions, it may be that neither incident would be 'eligible' for the incidental result defence in court.

Other defences include:

1. Tending/caring for a bat solely for the purpose of restoring it to health and subsequent release
2. Mercy killing where there is no reasonable hope of recovery (provided that person did not cause the injury in the first place - in which case the illegal act has already taken place).

Penalties on conviction - the maximum fine is £5,000 per incident or per bat (some roosts contain several hundred bats), up to six months in prison, and forfeiture of items used to commit the offence, eg vehicles, plant, machinery.

Please refer to the legislation for the precise wording - the above is a brief summary only.

• How to Report a Bat Crime

Licencing

Licences to permit illegal activities relating to bats and their roost sites can be issued for specific purposes and by specific licensing authorities in each country.  These are sometimes called 'derogation licences' or 'European Protected Species' licences, and are issued under the Habitats Regulations.  Click here to see information on derogation licences.  It is an offence not to comply with the terms and conditions of a derogation licence.  If you carry out work affecting bats or roosts without a licence, you will be breaking the law.

Find out where bats may be roosting.

Find out what actions can damage roosts and disturb bats.

Who needs to take particular note of the legislation?

• Property owners/householders who have a bat roost in their property (visit our helpline pages to find out what to you should do if you need to do works that could impact on a roost, or if you have queries about your bat roost)
• Woodland owners and managers, and owners of individual trees. Information about woodland management and bats
• Arboriculturalists and foresters
• Pest controllers. Information about bats in buildings
• Planning officers. Visit our planning page
• Building surveyors
• Architects
• Property developers
• Demolition companies
• Builders
• Roofers
• Ecological consultants

Which legislation is relevant for bats and roosts?

The Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (WCA) was the first legislation to provide protection for all bats and their roosts in England, Scotland and Wales.  (Earlier legislation gave protection to horseshoe bats only.)  It was amended several times with significant amendments being made by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 in England and Wales, and by the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 in Scotland.  These acts strengthened the WCA by adding the word 'recklessly' to the offences of intentional damage, destruction or obstruction of a roost, and to disturbance of a bat.  The Scottish legislation went a step further in 2004 by also adding recklessly to the offence of intentionally killing, injuring or taking a bat.  The 1981 Act is mirrored in Northern Ireland by the Widllife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.  In the Isle of Man it is mirrored by the Wildlife Act 1990 (as amended), and a further amendment to the IoM legislation is in progress at the time of writing.  In Jersey the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000 protects bats.  Legislation covering the Bailiwick of Guernsey is still in progress at the time of writing.

In 1992 the European Union's Council Directive on The Conservation of Natural Habitats of Wild Fauna and Flora (better known as the Habitats Directive) came into being, covering a range of plant and animal species, and all EU countries had to implement this.  This Directive gave rise to stronger protection for all UK bats, roosts, and the wider habitats of some bat species too.  In England, Scotland and Wales this Directive was implemented by The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (better known as the Habitats Regulations), and in Northern Ireland by the 1995 Northern Ireland Regulations. 

The Habitats Regulations have been amended several times since 1994, most recently in 2007.  The title (and wording) of the amendments is slightly different for each country because of each country's previous legislation and because of the differing legal systems (England and Wales have the same legal system, but Scotland and Northern Ireland differ).  The amendments to the Habitats Regulations are implemented by the following statutory instruments for each country:- 

• For England and Wales - The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 - S.I. 2007/1843
• For Scotland - The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Amendment (No.2) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 - S.I. 2007/80
• For Northern Ireland - The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 - S.R. 2007/345.

Despite the slightly different wording, the protection is virtually the same in all UK countries, with all bats and their roosts covered by strong legal protection.

The Habitats Regulations amendments in 2007 had the effect of removing bats from all the provisions of the Wildlife & Countryside Act in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and from most of the provisions of this Act in England and Wales.  The protection of bats and roosts therefore now rests mostly with the amended Habitats Regulations.  

(The 2007 Habitats Regulations amendments strengthened the Regulations by removing the Agriculture and Animal Health Act defences,  the dwelling house defence, the 'incidental result of an otherwise lawful operation' defence, and the defence that enabled certain actions to take place to prevent serious damage.  These defences were removed to bring the Habitats Regulations more into line with the EU Habitats Directive.  It also made non-compliance with a derogation licence a criminal offence.) 

Find out what you should do if you need to carry out work to a structure or tree, and know or suspect bats are roosting there.

Reporting a Bat Crime

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