WORK to protect the natural living habitat of bats in the Box Tunnel is being carried out by Network Rail during their electrification work on Bath's railway line.

The project, which is now in its third week, will see Network Rail's team work alongside an ecologist to ensure that bats will not be adversely affected by the work which will see the lowering of 10km of track through to Bath in preparation for the arrival of a new fleet of longer, faster, quieter and greener electric trains.

Before work commenced on the site, Network Rail surveyed the bat population in the Box Tunnel in order to better understand their numbers and patterns of behaviour.

This enabled the work to be catered around the needs of the different species of bats including small numbers of hibernating lesser horseshoes, a maternity colony of common pipistrelles, transient roosts of brown long-eared and Myotis bats and one male Bechstein’s bat.

Andy Haynes, Network Rail’s project director for the west of England, said: “We have often talked about the importance of preserving Bath’s historic architecture, but as equally important is the need to protect the wildlife that lives within it.

“This is why we are continuing to work with an ecologist to ensure the improvement work we are carrying out is not having a detrimental effect on the significant number of bats that have made Box Tunnel their home.

“So far the bats appear to be disturbed less by our work than they are by the usual passage of trains, which is good news.”

As the team head towards the halfway point in the project, a second site visit was carried out to survey the bat population and check the recording equipment that has been installed in the tunnel to monitor their activity.

During the work, a young injured kestrel was found and after liaising with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the team took the kestrel to a nearby veterinary surgery and it is now recovering well at a bird of prey rescue centre.

Mr Haynes added: “You always encounter the unexpected when working on a complex project such as this, but I’m pleased to say that we remain on schedule and last weekend finished our track lowering work through Dundas Aqueduct.

“I would like to thank passengers and those living near Bath’s railway line, for their continued patience and support as we deliver the biggest upgrade this section of line has had for over 40 years.”

With a few weeks left on the project, Network Rail will be working further with ecologists to monitor the impact on local wildlife.

For information on disruptions caused to commuters on the railway, visit www.nationalrail.co.uk.