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PAA Get Batty at Burntwood Quarry

Since 2012, PAA has been fortunate enough to have worked on a regular basis at Burntwood Quarry on the Chatsworth Estate, as part of a long-term plan for the re-opening of the quarry and subsequent small-scale stone extraction over the next 15 years.

Chatsworth House itself is a Grade I listed building, built in the late 17th century as the home of the Devonshire family and is now in need of restoration work due to weathering and other damage received over the years. Due to the building’s importance, any new stone used for repair works must be matched exactly to the Ashover gritstone that the house was constructed from. The closest known source of this is Burntwood Quarry, near Beeley, with archives suggesting that the original stone for the building of the house also originated from the quarry.

Some of Burntwood’s many bluebells (in part of the wider area encompassed within our Woodland Management Plan)

Encompassed by mature woodland with a network of streams and a variety of habitats within a short distance, Burntwood Quarry and the surrounding area is home to several species of nature conservation importance. When initial outline plans for the quarry’s re-opening were issued, PAA undertook a number of ecological assessments to identify any potential impacts on the ecology. These included habitat mapping, breeding bird surveys, summer and winter bat activity surveys and distribution mapping of several ancient woodland indicator plants. Using these results PAA has developed, in close consultation with the Chatsworth Estate and the wider project team, a number of mitigation and compensation strategies. These strategies will ensure the plants and animals associated with the quarry area and its surrounding woodland experience minimal impact throughout the quarrying campaign, with the overall goal of ecological enhancement. This will be achieved through a series of working Method Statements during active quarrying along with a long-term Woodland Management Plan, which includes native bluebell translocation away from areas affected by the quarrying works, the hand removal of any Schedule 9 Himalayan Balsam found and the sensitive removal of selected trees to create more glades and rides.

One of the largest challenges that recommencing stone extraction at Burntwood Quarry has presented, is that crevices within the quarry face itself are home to a number of bat species. Common pipistrelle, brown long-eared and a number of bats of Myotis species (including Natterer’s and Daubenton’s bats) were all found to be utilising the crevices for summer roosting, with some of the bats also hibernating there (confirmed when static bat detectors were left to record in the quarry at various points throughout winter).

The key area of the quarry face used by roosting bats

The surrounding woodland provides ideal foraging habitat for bats and the site is used for autumn swarming and possibly mating. The quarry has therefore been assessed as being of significant importance to bats not only locally, but regionally too. This has resulted in a number of mitigating measures that have ranged from the installation of bat boxes within the surrounding woodland to vegetation clearance and illumination of the quarry face prior to the start of works, with the aim of discouraging bats from returning to roost once they had emerged. However, the culmination of the bat mitigation work at Burntwood Quarry has been the specially-designed bat house, a.k.a ‘Batsworth’.

The 2m high bat house was designed by PAA, approved by the Peak District National Park Authority and Natural England and then constructed with the aim of providing a variety of replacement roosts that would mimic the features found on the quarry face and be suitable for a range of uses, including night and day roosting and hibernation, for a number of species. Built from stone sourced from the quarry area, with a pitched slate roof and small access window in one gable, the house has been tailor-made for bats, with raised ridge tiles, Morris slates and gaps at the eaves providing further access points to the interior. There are three internal levels: a compartmentalised cellar, ground floor room and loft, providing a range of different temperatures and humidity levels. Bat boxes have also been installed within the structure, adding to the range of roosting opportunities.

It is anticipated that over time, ‘Batsworth’ will become a fitting home for many of Burntwood’s bats, ensuring that stone extraction for the restoration of Chatsworth House can continue, whilst the integrity of the local bat population is maintained. Annual inspections will record the bat species and numbers as they move into the house, which will provide a home for many generations of bats to come.

PAA offers a full range of consultant expertise relating to ecological assessments and mitigation, including protected species – please contact us for more information, or feel free to download one of our relevant fliers below:

Bats and Development
Quarries and Mineral workings
Vegetation survey and assessment
Birds and Development