Bats and licensing

All bat species found in Scotland are classed as European protected species. They receive full protection under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended). Find out about bats as protected species.

The protection extends to bat roosts. A bat roost is any structure or place that a bat, or group of bats, uses for shelter or protection. As bats return to the same places every year, a bat roost is protected even if no bats are present.

Basic bat surveys don’t require a licence, but you’ll need one to handle or ring bats, or to enter roosts.

Homeowners will require a licence to exclude bats that are causing significant problems in a house. You must also be licensed to carry out minor home repairs or alterations that might affect bats in a property.

A licence can permit planned development works that might affect bats or their roosts to proceed legally.

Most land management practices are unlikely to affect bats or their roosts. But you should apply to us for a licence if your work could otherwise result in an offence in relation to bats.

We may issue a licence to permit tree works where a bat roost is present and no alternative is possible.

We can issue licences for the possession of bats for scientific, research or educational purposes.

You don’t need a licence to:

• tend a disabled bat
• kill a seriously injured bat
• remove bats from the living area of a house

Use of Safe Roofing Membranes

When seeking a licence to enable the installation of a new roof membrane in a roof structure where bats are known to roost, you must include a certificate that proves the roofing membrane has passed a ‘snagging propensity test’ if you’re using a non-bitumen coated roofing membrane.

A snagging propensity test checks that the membrane can stand the repeated snagging actions of roosting bats. To pass, a membrane must show no change in the average number of loops per cm² as rotations are increased from 0 to 1000.

You do not need a certificate for bitumen 1F felt that has a non-woven, short fibre construction.

Changes to Best Practice Guidance

We would like to raise awareness amongst bat ecologist applying for licences from NatureScot of the publication of the Bat Surveys for Professional Ecologists Good Practice Guidelines 4th edition. This supersedes the 3^rd edition (Collins, 2016). The text has been prepared by Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), discussed and agreed with the Statutory Nature Conservation Body (SNCB) mammal specialists and the Technical Review Board for the 4th edition of the survey guidelines have also been given the opportunity to comment. 

From the 2025 season onwards we expect night vision aids (NVAs) to be used as standard protocol, rather than an optional or complimentary method for both building and tree bat emergence surveys. Justification for not using NVAs will be required in the consultant’s report in order to support a licence application.

Ecologists without a survey licence should not enter known roosts or sites where signs of bat presence, (or possible bat presence) have been found.  Even where no sign of bats have been found, surveys of potential roost sites should be carried out by ecologists with a survey licence covering the relevant activities. Emergence surveys continue to not require a licence to be in place as long as there is no risk of disturbing bats. 

Bat roost re-entry surveys (otherwise known as dawn surveys) have been removed as a routine method for assessing presence/ absence of bats. 

Timings between bat surveys has been increased to at least 3 weeks, with preferably a greater gap to maximise information collection over the survey period.