Hibernation Survey COVID-19 guidance

Updated 22nd November 2024

If you have an appropriate bat class licence you may take part in the NBMP Hibernation Survey. Unlicensed surveyors can accompany a surveyor with an appropriate bat class licence.

Important guidance relating to safety of bats and surveyors

In 2024, the IUCN Bat Specialist Group published new guidelines for field hygiene when carrying out surveys involving direct contact or close proximity to bats (available at https://www.iucnbsg.org/).

These new guidelines go beyond the previous guidance which focussed on SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) and cover measures to reduce the risk of transmission of any pathogens, known and unknown, between humans and bats and vice versa. The guidance is designed to cover different scenarios in which bat workers work in close contact with bats throughout the world.

We have produced a document (download here) based on the IUCN guidance which aims to pull out and localise the relevant guidance for carrying out hibernation surveys in the UK and which includes a generalised assessment of risks within the UK context.

Our aim has been to strike a balance between the need to take precautions against the transmission of pathogens, and what actions are relevant, proportionate and practicable for hibernation surveys in the UK.

The headline messages are:

• As in recent years, appropriate PPE should continue to be worn to reduce the risk of transmitting pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 between humans and bats. We continue to ask surveyors to ensure they have had a negative Covid test results within 24 hours before the survey and do not attend if they have any coronavirus type symptoms. Contrary to the IUCN BSG guidance we are not requiring everyone to have up-to-date Covid vaccinations since these are no longer freely available to all and we consider a negative Covid test, lack of symptoms and suitable PPE to be the most effective precautions.
• Coveralls should be worn that are changed or disinfected between sites (not necessarily between different hibernacula at the same site though this should be assessed on a case-by-case basis). Boots/equipment should be disinfected between sites.
• The IUCN specifies that safety eyewear such as goggles should be worn within bat roost spaces due to the potential presence of aerosolised urine/faeces and associated risks to human health. We have assessed this to be a low risk at hibernation sites in the UK but you should assess this on a site by site basis and you may consider it a worthwhile precaution at sites with large gatherings of bats in confined spaces and/or with poor ventilation.