Winter Services at Bakerwell

Friday 30th Oct 2026

As the winter approaches, Bakerwell staff are flipping their calendars over to bat tree and hibernation assessments, badger surveys, winter bird surveys, and beyond. We begin to prepare for the season ahead, booking in spring great crested newt, reptile and bat emergence and activity surveys, mitigation works and more. If you are putting together a planning application for the upcoming survey season, we invite you to explore below some of Bakerwell's most popular winter services, alongside some of the things you might be beginning to consider ahead of season.

Tree climbing through the winter is an effective way to reduce time during the primary bat activity season (May to end of August).

It might not be the time of year we typically associate with bat activity, but if you are planning a development or need to carry out tree works, winter might be the perfect time to book your tree assessment in. Getting on site early in the year before trees are in leaf means greater visibility for identifying trees with or without bat roosting potential, and can give you a head start ahead of the summer survey season. If you are considering a development or tree works, we encourage you to get in touch.

Improved visibility means that surveyors can carry out a survey more efficiently, often reducing time working at height. Not only does this have the potential to reduce your costs, but it is also the safer option; preferable from a Construction Design and Management perspective.

Bakerwell's licensed bat surveyors and climbers have a wealth of knowledge and experience with planning, arboriculture, and hazardous trees; including emergency and development licensing.

Badgers are active all throughout the year, and in many ways, winter is the ideal time to survey.

The reduced vegetation we see across the autumn, winter and early spring months often makes it quicker and easier for surveyors to locate and identify mammal holes, paths, tracks and other signs. If you are considering a planning application in 2027, with the potential for badgers we encourage you to get in touch.

Alongside this, in the case works can’t avoid impacts to setts, under Natural England licence the works season for badger sett closure is between July and November - having knowledge of the presence of badger setts early in you project can enable us to work with you to make the most cost-efficient plans in line with the site program, reducing the likelihood of seasonal constraints delaying your project.

Preliminary roost assessments should ideally be done ASAP in your planning timeline, and winter is a great time to book this in.

A preliminary roost assessment will inform requirement for any follow up surveys for bats. The bat survey season for summer roosts is between May and September - if you wait to plan your bat surveys until too late in the season, it could mean delays to your planning application. Alongside this, if hibernation surveys are required, these usually require visits in the coldest months during November and March.

Knowing what the potential for bats is for your project as early as possible, means that you will have opportunity to plan, book in and carry out bat surveys as early as required. This ensures that you can have everything done well before seasonal cut-offs, and reduces the possibility of avoidable days to your ideal project timeline. If you are considering a development, we encourage you to get in touch.

In the world of planning and Natural England Licensing for bats, winter hibernation surveys must also be kept in mind.

Bat hibernation surveys can be easy to overlook. We tend to associate bats with the warmer months - however, if your site is a potential hibernation roost, then the surveys for this will need to take place between November and March.

If you have not yet had your roost assessment, we recommend contacting us for availability ASAP. If the hibernation survey window is missed, this could mean delays to your timeline that could stretch through to next winter. If you are considering a development in, we encourage you to get in touch.

As spring and summer is peak survey season for most wildlife, preparing now is a great time to have your initial Preliminary Ecological Appraisal.

Having your Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) in winter or early in the year, benefits the program for application submission as it allows for booking your surveys in advance, and gives design teams time for layout design which includes ecological constraints and opportunities. If you are considering a development, we encourage you to get in touch.

Wintering bird surveys, yes these are a type of bird survey that can only be conducted in winter!

Across the winter months, Britain is home to a unique set of birds compared to spring and summer. Some migratory species only inhabit our shores in the winter, and some resident species occur in higher numbers as they are joined by others from overseas. To have an accurate picture of a sites ecology and to address Habitat Regulations concerns regarding use of supporting habitats outside of protected areas by wintering birds, it is often important that an informed planning application includes results of surveys to evidence how birds are making use of on an area outside of the primary breeding season.

Typical wintering bird survey methodology requires four – six visits, one every month between November and March. If your site is within 7.5km of a Special Protection Area designated for its overwintering bird assemblage, we recommend planning for this as soon as possible (contact us here) – to avoid long delay to your project if the survey window is missed.

Field signs of Britain's most in-demand wild mammal go unobscured in winter.

Beavers and water vole are critically endangered and are the recent focus of many projects dedicated to reintroducing lost wildlife to the British Isles.

If your site is close to a watercourse, or your development will influence riparian zones, or beavers or water vole have been released or recorded nearby, a beaver survey should be carried out no more than 12 months before submitting any licence application.

Winter is a great time to conduct a beaver survey, as in summer vegetation can often obscure field signs of beavers. Water vole surveys are split across the spring and summer seasons to collect signs of activity as they are less active in winter. Contact us here about a survey for either species.

Otters can be surveyed any time of year, but visibility in winter is best in winter.

If you are likely to need an otter survey, we encourage you to consider winter as the ideal time to book this in.

Otters are active year round, and therefore field signs are visible throughout the year. However, winter is the ideal time to survey as the reduced vegetation seen in winter can not only improve visibility for surveyors, but access as well, allowing your ecologist to safely get closer to the riverbanks where evidence of otters is most likely to be found. This approach often results in a more efficient, thorough survey, meaning your surveyor is likely to require less time on site, ultimately reducing your survey costs. Contact us here if you would like to plan a survey.

So the dormouse survey season has ended, but you want to know if they are present on your site - Hazel nut searches can be carried out between September & February.

Dormice are known for their distinctive feeding habits, sometimes leaving evidence of their presence by leaving behind intricately opened hazelnuts. Where you have plenty of hazel trees on site this means a winter survey may be possible. Surveys can confirm the presence of dormice at a site by finding these discarded nut shells, allowing design and planning for this species early.

If your site contains habitat where a dormouse hazelnut search would be appropriate (for example woodland, hedgerows, or mixed scrub where hazel trees are present in number) then it might be worth booking in a nut search survey with Bakerwell. If the presence of dormice is confirmed, then we can seek to plan for a license application and the implementation of mitigation measures ASAP, as well as saving on the costs of summer surveys. However, please note that the absence of hazelnuts does not rule out the presence of dormice, in this situation, follow-up surveys in the summer would still be required. If you want to find out if your site would be suitable for this approach contact us here.

Bakerwell is a CIEEM registered practice that can offer all of the above surveys and more throughout the winter.

Bakerwell's staff are passionate about the work they do, and the projects they work on. Our ecologists have a wealth of experience working with British wildlife, are knowledgeable on best practice and survey guidelines, and are keen to provide a friendly and personal service to all of our clients.

If you have any questions or would like to find out about our availability, we encourage you to contact us here or email [email protected].