Contractor Fined £17,000 After Skipping Bat Survey Kills Roost Of 150

Glasgow-based City Building was fined £17,000 after pleading guilty to breaching animal conservation laws, following work that trapped and killed roughly 150 protected soprano pipistrelle bats in a Dumfriesshire home. Dumfries Sheriff Court heard the bats died of dehydration and starvation after their roost entrance was sealed off.

The firm had been contracted by landlord Wheatley Homes South to fit external cladding and install solar panels on a sheltered housing bungalow in Lochmaben. Under the agreement, City Building was responsible for reviewing the property to determine whether bats were present before work began.

That review was never carried out. Solar panels and external wall insulation were installed between June 23 and July 5, 2023, sealing off the hole the bats used to enter and exit their roost in the roof.

The property's tenant and his family raised the alarm on July 14, after discovering large numbers of dead and dying bats inside the home. More than 150 flew into his living quarters and bedroom, and he was later hospitalised and treated for bat bites before being rehoused.

An ecologist estimated the roost held around 150 adult bats alongside a similar number of pups, roughly 300 animals in total. About half were found dead in and around the property, with most of the remaining fatalities among the pups. Surviving injured bats were uplifted and removed for treatment.

Investigators found the bats had been entering through a gap near a boiler in a bedroom, where pipework ran up into the attic. New fascias and roofwork installed during the project blocked that route entirely, sealing the animals inside.

Iain Batho, who leads on animal welfare for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said construction firms carry a responsibility to carry out due diligence before work that could disturb protected wildlife or their habitats. He said City Building's failure to do so impaired the maternity roost's ability to survive and rear young, with lasting effects on the local soprano pipistrelle population.

Soprano pipistrelle bats are protected under European law, and prosecutors said the case reflects a broader commitment to treating wildlife crime seriously wherever there is sufficient evidence and public interest in taking action.