Nesting birds, badgers and several species of bats, including a satellite maternity colony of rare lesser horseshoe bats were found on site. Proposals for the site include the restoration of the derelict buildings to create a working farm.
Clarkson & Woods worked with the project architects to design a mitigation bat house to compensate for the loss of roosting opportunities currently provided by the derelict site, which would be in keeping with the surrounding farm and rural landscape.
This mitigation roost took the final form of a stone built round icehouse/folly, tucked away at the edge of the neighbouring woodland. Internally the bat house contained a bespoke oak wagon wheel roof with a myriad of roosting features for bats. Features for roosting bats were also be incorporated into the restored buildings.
A badger outlier sett was identified within one of the derelict barns. Following comprehensive surveys of the surrounding area a licence was obtained from Natural England in order to safely and successfully close the sett and allow the continuation of the renovation and refurbishment of the farm.
