Natural Resources Wales / Bat licensing

You must apply for a licence from Natural Resources Wales if you’re doing any work that affects a protected species in Wales. This includes:

disturbing, trapping or handling protected species
damaging their habitats, for example by restoring a pond or building a housing development

All bat species are protected by law, including their breeding sites and resting places.

Bats and the law

It is against the law to:

deliberately capture, injure, or kill bats
damage or destroy a breeding or resting place
obstruct access to their resting or sheltering places
possess, transport, sell or exchange live or dead bats, or parts of them
intentionally or recklessly disturb a bat while it’s in a structure, or place of shelter, or protection

You may be able to get a licence from us for certain specific purposes if the work you want to do is likely to commit an offence.

You don’t need a licence to:

If you cannot avoid disturbing bats or damaging their roosts, you can apply for a species licence.

You can apply for a licence for a range of different activities, the most common of which include:

You can contact us for help at any time before or during your licence application.

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