FERNHILL Heath is the latest place in the county to be getting a set of ‘bat friendly’ street lights after a successful trial in Worcester.
It comes after Worcestershire County Council’s investigations into types of lighting and how it can be made more environmentally friendly.
As well as the site being in need of a lighting upgrade, the ecological appraisal for a housing development being constructed by Piper Homes on the A38 Droitwich Road, found bats using the site.
It illustrated there were large numbers of soprano pipistrelle bats and smaller numbers of other species, including noctule, nyctalus, brown long-eared bats, myotis and babastelles.
A Worcestershire County Council spokesperson said: “Following our ground-breaking scheme in Warndon, we have found normal white LED street lighting may interact negatively with the bats who are visiting the site.
“These varied species are believed to be more light averse and less capable of adjusting to normal white LED lighting than common and soprano pipistrelle.
“Therefore, it was decided to incorporate a small section of ‘red’ light, similar to those that were replaced in Warndon in 2020 to reduce impact on these species.”
She added she hoped – with this light treatment – the county council’s energy and carbon consumption will also be reduced, as well as the positive impact on the varied and valuable protected bat species in the area.
