Grounded Trees & Ecology

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Grounded Trees & Ecology

Arboriculture and ecology company based in Swansea. Bat and other ecology surveys, plus tree works.

17/12/2025

Infrared and thermal cameras are an essential part of our bat survey arsenal. When it gets too dark for our eyes to see, the cameras can see for us. Video playback allows us to pinpoint exact access points and obtain an accurate count of the bats emerging from whatever building or structure we are surveying.

So, how do we decide where to position our cameras?

Firstly, the Preliminary Roost Assessment we conduct helps determine potential bat access points. We ensure that cameras clearly capture those access points as these areas are where we are likely to see bats emerging. Potential access points are a priority to capture, but we also ensure all aspects of the building are covered and try to ensure we have a com-lete view of the property. This isn’t always possible - there may be odd angles that make it difficult to have the whole building in view, or a high roof that is difficult to film from the ground level. There is trial and error and lots of adjustments before we turn them on for the evening.

Between surveys, we review footage. We confirm bat access points, and also identify areas that our cameras did not capture. This helps inform our subsequent surveys, allowing us to adjust our cameras if necessary or bring additional ones that focus on the access points and really hone in on where the bats are emerging from.

By the end of our set of surveys, we have gleaned a thorough overview of the bat presence of the building - the species, the numbers, and the access points.

09/12/2025

Autumn for Grounded Trees looks like a lot of on-site supervision works. We schedule these works outside of the core bat activity season (May-September depending on weather conditions) as this is the time of year bats are least likely to be in the buildings undergoing development, thus the time of year we are least likely to disturb them by altering the building.

We are still bound to uncover evidence of bats (such as mounds of bat droppings) and find the occasional bat! All works are done with care to ensure that if bats are tucked away under roof tiles, snugly pressed against battens, they are found and safely handled by our licensed ecologist. They are transferred to a bat box for safety where they will remain until the evening.

04/12/2025

Here’s a life hack: being lazy can actually be great for nature.

Leaf debris is a surprisingly biodiverse microhabitat, and is essential for soil health and the health of a whole ecosystem. Not to mention, this is where bugs live and how they survive winter. Leafing leaves be And putting out some snacks for our nature neighbours who don’t have the luxury of a house with central heating is a simple way to give the natural world a helping hand this winter 🍂🍁

02/12/2025

What do bats do in December? 🦇❄️

In the colder winter months, bats should be settled into their winter roosts to hibernate. Bats are one of only three UK animal groups that undergo true hibernation. After spending the end of summer and autumn building up their fat reserves, bats find a roost with a stable environment and dramatically lower their metabolic rate, including their heart rate and breathing rate. This is an evolutionarily ingenious mechanism bats have to be able to survive the winter when food supplies are low, allowing them to live solely off their fat reserves.

On warmer nights, bats may awake from hibernation and forage for food to replenish their fat stores, but typically, bats will remain in their roosts for the winter.

25/11/2025

Help us with our research!

In the quieter season, we’ve been collating our emergence data from the past few seasons into a large data set that we’ve conducted preliminary analyses on to determine trends in bat emergences. We would love to be able to expand our data set to be able to undertake robust analyses across multiple bat species.

So, bat ecologists, we turn to you for help. Would you be willing to share your emergence data with us to help enhance our research? DM us for more information, or email admin@groundedtrees.uk directly.

Thank you, bat community! 🫡🦇

13/11/2025

Today we are going to take a look at our Guide Thermal TK612 cameras - an essential part of our bat survey arsenal. These thermal cameras have different imaging settings that allow us to alter the colour of our recordings. These pictures of a brown long-eared bat roosting in a loft space illustrate the difference between these settings!

We usually use the iron red setting to film over our emergence surveys as we have found that this gives the best contrast between bats and buildings, and particularly bats and the sky. When using our DV2 thermal cameras, which have the same image setting, we tend to favour the adjustable red hot or the white hot settings. When filming internal spaces, the green hot settings really make bats pop!

What is your favourite setting? If you use thermal cameras, what settings are your favourites?

11/11/2025

Here’s a throwback to one of my personal favourite projects - this beautiful old coach house in the Brecon Beacons. This is a project we have been working on for a while now, trying to gather as much data as possible regarding the roost inside so we can mitigate for its loss as best as possible.

We have discovered a day and night roost for lesser horseshoe bats, with a maximum count of
four of them hanging up inside the loft space. On one of our visits, we also spotted a juvenile LHS in the loft space, indicating that this could be a satellite maternity roost.

This was a really fun project to get to be a part of - and it’s not over yet! We still have to design and construct a bat house worthy of replacing this incredible box before the coach house is renovated. We hope to be able to update with its progress soon!

04/11/2025

Where do bats go in November?

After the mating season and a few months of fattening up for the winter, bats retreat to roosts with stable temperatures - underground in caves or mines or tucked into cavity walls. They lower their metabolic rate and enter hibernation, one of only a handful of UK species that undergo true hibernation in place of torpor. Can you name the other UK species that undergo true hibernation?

28/10/2025

Emergency survey - what do you do when you start work and find bats?

This recently happened to one of our clients, who began reroofing and quickly discovered bats under a ridge tile. Luckily, the roofers did exactly what they were supposed to do - carefully replaced the feature to protect bats, stopped all works, and contacted a licensed bat ecologist (us!)

We got to site as soon as we could, conducted a Preliminary Roost Assessment where we found THOUSANDS of bat droppings, and stayed on site to conduct an emergence survey that night. Despite being out of season, we recorded a total of twenty six bats emerging from the property from a total of six access points. It makes you wonder how much activity we’d record within the core bat activity season.

The roof is in desperate need of repair. There are many gaps and areas that have been damaged, leading to water ingress that has caused internal damage.

Our next steps are to get the droppings DNA tested to try get a better idea of the species utilising this home, and apply for an emergency bat licence so the much needed roof repair can continue as soon as possible.

23/10/2025

On a rare sunny day in September, we conducted a Preliminary Roost Assessment at a local office building.
The surrounding habitat was not deemed to have high bat foraging potential, being in an industrial estate, although there are patches of shrubs, a treeline, and a river nearby that could provide potential foraging opportunities and commuting routes.

Potential roosting features identified from the outside of the building included gaps along the length of the ridge tiles, gaps under lifted roof tiles, and large crevices under fascia boards where we found what we suspected to be bat droppings.

The loft space was large and lined with bitumen felt. Unfortunately, due to safety concerns, we could not thoroughly inspect the loft space. Ecologists falling through ceilings is not usually included in a PRA, so we do our best to avoid such incidences.

There was a considerable amount of bat activity around the building, with soprano pipistrelles continuously flying up to a soffit at the rear of the building. Although we did not record any emergences or entries, this activity indicates that maybe there is something more going on here, so we are hoping to return next summer to conduct another emergence survey!

Address

4 Spion Kop Road
Swansea
SA65AN

Telephone

+447970274758

Website

http://Www.groundedtrees.uk/

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