RARE bats living at an historic tannery site are being helped to thrive after being given a new home as part of its redevelopment.

The stone buildings on the 250-year-old J&T Beaven site in Holt, are being converted into 100 workspaces and 44 new homes.

Ecology specialist Engain has been working with developers to ensure that the bats, as well as slow worms, toads, snakes and swallows, are protected from the work.

Matt Davies, Engain’s Head of Ecology, has been part of the team looking after the colony of bats, which include Greater and Lesser Horseshoes. “There is a nationally important population of horseshoe bats in and around Bath and Bradford on Avon where there are the old mine and quarry workings that have become a real stronghold for them,” he said. “But the bats occupy roosts elsewhere and the bats at Holt are part of that very important population.”

His team have worked alongside developers Stonewood to design the buildings and the landscape around them. “We have had to figure out how we can fit the bats back into the completed development in a way that is in harmony with how the development is going to be used,” he said.

“The bats need some undisturbed locations that aren’t going to be lit by artificial lighting. In some cases you want to retain the roosts in the same places and in others you give them somewhere else to roost.”

Aside from the horseshoes, the colony includes Common Pipistrelle, Natterers’ and Brown Long-Eared bats.

“Holt is a good location for the bats, it is warm and mild and there is plenty of food around. They eat insects but they all have quite specific dietary requirements at different times of the year depending on what they are doing, whether they are pregnant or feeding their young, it can vary from tiny little moths you can hardly see with the naked eye to big Maybugs.”

Work has been planned around the bats’ hibernation and maternity seasons to minimise the disturbance. “In some cases we watched the bats leave, sealed up the roosts so they couldn’t get back into the building and got on with the work. It’s not an exact science but experience leads us to think they will come back,” said Mr Davies.

Dozens of slow worms and grass snakes have been carefully moved to a quieter corner at the edge of the site.