All UK bat species and their roosts are fully protected by law. Ensuring new development and building renovation respects bat roosts protects both species conservation and individual bat welfare.
Bats disturbed during hibernation wake unnecessarily, burning energy reserves needed to survive winter. Each awakening costs energy equivalent to weeks of hibernation duration. Repeated disturbance can exhaust fat reserves before spring insects emerge — causing starvation. The welfare cost of hibernation disturbance is disproportionate to the brevity of the disturbance itself.