However, bats were nothing compared to the problems that great crested newts caused the brothers. These slippery creatures often hit the headlines for causing planning delays, and if found, they need to be either contained by special fences, or caught individually by hand and moved to a new location.
The ecologist employed by Q New Homes found no physical evidence of great crested newts on the site. However, because there was a small pond, this meant an environmental DNA (eDNA) test still had to be carried out regardless.
“These eDNA tests can only be carried out in May and June, the newt breeding season,” Wynne says. “Although this was a very poorly maintained pond with no physical sign of newts, there was a DNA signature and it was our duty to check it out and mitigate any risks to the species.”
The complex system has meant that in the end, Wynne and his brother had to pay a £105,000 bill to Natural England for mitigation licences and providing newt habitats elsewhere.
“The money has to be paid upfront before works will be signed off, and doesn’t include all the time and effort, plus all the costs associated with surveys and delays. We are a small, family-owned business and suddenly finding the funds to pay an extra six-figure bill is very hard,” says Wynne.
“We are actually keeping the pond and improving it, and as well as building extremely environmentally friendly homes, we are also putting in a host of other measures, from bird boxes to bee bricks. We are doing the very best we can for the environment.”
A single dropping is enough to halt work
While barn owl scoping and habitat surveys can take place at any time of year, activity surveys are best undertaken during the late breeding season, generally between mid-June and late-July, although surveys can extend into October to take account of late broods.
In the years-long process of converting disused agricultural barns dating from the 1850s on farmland in Millbrook, Bedfordshire, into six three- and four-bedroom homes, the private developer Healdan Estates had to commission surveys for nesting birds and bats.
An ecologist carrying out the bat survey also spotted barn owl pellets, and four barn owl chicks were discovered in the rafters. A local barn owl protection group offered to take the chicks away, but the ecologist advised against moving them in case the parents returned. The developer was told to feed the chicks twice a day, which they did religiously, but the parent birds never returned, and the chicks died.
The barns, which are all named after barn owls and are now for sale from £695,000 through Michael Graham estate agents, include ecological features such as barn owl boxes, swallow cups, bat boxes and bird boxes for sparrows and great tits.
Rare and everyday species are protected
And don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s only obscure, unseen creatures that could derail your grand design. Alexander Macfarlane, of Strutt & Parker’s building consultancy, points out that pigeons are protected in the UK.
“This everyday bird can cause long delays after the building works have actually finished,” Macfarlane says. “In urban areas pigeons nest in the netting which often encloses scaffolding and, as soon as this happens, you have little choice but to wait until the squab (baby pigeon) has fledged.”
A spokesman for Natural England says: “Out of the tens of thousands of planning applications we are consulted on every year, 99pc result in development proceeding while protecting nature.
“Just 1pc are objected to where there is a risk of irreparable harm to our most precious protected sites and species. We have and will continue to put in place quicker, simpler and cheaper licensing processes to protect wildlife without householders always needing to pay for individual surveys.”
