Protected Species

Fully protected species are listed under the Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and include;bats, otter, pine marten, wildcat, red squirrel, dormouse, Great Crested Newt. Where species surveys may indicate the presence of Great Crested newts, Badger Setts or Otter Holts, the known ecology of each species is used to undertake habitat creation and mitigation. This may include such measures as construction of alternative ponds, specialist planting schemes, new badger setts and exclusion zones may need to be set up. These new habitats will be designed using protected species surveys information and ecology report recommendations to determine the best possible mitigation measures and enhancement techniques. Amphibians in the last 10 years, more than a third of traditional amphibian spawning grounds have been lost, due in part to agricultural intensification and also to urban development, as habitats such as ditches and ponds have been filled in. this has made the 'common' frog, 'common' toad and 'common' newt all less familiar sights and far less “common.”Garden ponds, as a result are increasing in popularity with wildlife gardening and are becoming an important refuge and haven for vagrant amphibians; far from doing any harm, frogs, toads and newts will eat slugs, snails, small insects and their larvae and so are friends to the garden owner and to the commercial land owner, adding character, a sense of place.