Blaisdon Hall

Also within

Gloucestershire County

Condition (Natural England)

Description

Description The Wye Valley and Forest of Dean form one of the main British strongholds for the threatened lesser horseshoe bat Rhinolophus hipposideros where the extensive deciduous woodlands, underground systems and sheltered valleys provide important roosting and feeding areas for this species. Habitat destruction, loss of roost sites, pesticide use and climate change have been responsible for a European and national population decline and contraction in range of the lesser horseshoe bat. Consequently the species is protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Annex IIa and at maa of the EC Habitats and Species Directive and Appendix II of the Bern Convention. Blaisdon Hall is notified for its nationally significant breeding population of lesser horseshoe bats and supports one fifth of the known Gloucestershire breeding population. The notified site consists of part of the roof void, roof tiles, roof timbers and flanking walls of Blaisdon Hall and the nearby workshop. Lesser horseshoe bats prefer to have free flight access to their breeding and roosting sites. Large, old buildings are often utilised during the summer by female lesser horseshoe bats who congregate in nursery roosts to give birth to and raise their young. Bats are known to remain faithful to their preferred roost sites, especially to nursery roosts. The hall is also used by pipistrelle bats Pipistrellus pipistrellus and brown long eared bats Plecotus auritus.

Species mentioned