A team of ecologists have released a report giving evidence of a rare Barbastelle bat roost at Jones Hill Wood Buckinghamshire.This wood was the wood that inspired Roald Dahl to write The Fantastic Mr Fox.
The report can be seen here.
It was one of several bat species seen in the wood but is very rare in the UK due to extensive loss of deciduous woodland.
Mark Keir, former Green Party Candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip 2019 said “I am an environmentalist that has been living in these woods for months. In the centre of the woods is a dead standing tree, one of the most important parts of a woodland ecology. I can personally verify that in that tree was an active bat roost, right until HS2 arrived. The bats have been disturbed and have left their roosts. They have been made homeless. This is illegal”.
Natural England have confirmed that HS2 did not have any licence to disturb, damage or destroy Barbastelle roosts and indeed did not have a valid licence relating to any bat species.
The Bat Conservation Trust also released a statement detailing their concerns.
Mark Keir also confirmed that “We have heard from PC Chalk, Wildlife Crime Officer for Thames Valley, that work at Jones Hill Woods will be suspended until full ecological studies are completed”.
It is likley that work here is suspended in the wood until summer 2021 although it is understood HS2 are carrying out their own ecological surveys and have not yet confirmed that tree felling in the wood is halted.
Jones Hill Wood