Greater Horseshoe (s)
Pipistrelle (s)
Daubenton’s (l)
Brown Long-eared (l)
Grey Long-eared (l)
Lesser Horseshoe (l)

Derelict buildings and land left behind extraction, or in advance of working may provide new habitats for bats. Working practices should ensure that they are not disturbed.

• Care is required to ensure that bats taking advantage of derelict buildings and land are not disturbed by the reclamation process.
• Opportunities for colonisation can be increased by design of restoration and after-use.
• Their natural habitat requires a range of roosting sites for use throughout the year for resting, breeding, and hibernation. They need access to a source of food which provides a range of insect life.
• Typical roosting sites: tree hollows, tunnels, bridges, caves, mines, cellars, roof spaces, barns.

Extraction and the creation of damaged land can provide opportunities for colonisation by a wide variety of invertebrate life due to the mosaic of habitats provided, such as small pools and bare ground through all stages of re-colonisation succession if left undisturbed. These invertebrates can support many other animals of nature conservation interest (such as bats, as noted above).

• Restoration schemes should be designed to maintain as wide a variety as possible of small habitats within the major reclamation. For example: wide field margins, hedges, ponds, bogs, ditches, copses, and field headlands can provide good habitats for surviving and colonising invertebrates.
• Management of land without the use of pesticides, and a varied use of land – grazing, trampling, and rotational use of crops with alternate areas left open on an annual basis – can allow colonisation from one area to another.

Scarce Chaser Dragonfly (l)

Areas of water left undisturbed during extraction can attract dragonflies and damselflies particularly if meadow, scrub, marsh and woodland are close by for feeding and roosting of the adult phase.

• Dragonflies require a stable and undisturbed habitat of freshwater for the egg and nymph stages, and adjacent areas of meadow, marsh and scrub for the adult phase.
• Many mineral extraction restorations can provide the habitat required by these species if thought is given at the design stage.
• Water bodies should be designed with extensive areas of shallows to encourage an abundant growth of emergent vegetation. Bare areas of mud should also be retained.
• Note: reedbeds (or phragmites) do not encourage dragonflies.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary (s)
Northern Brown Argus (l)
Silver Studded Blue (m)
Adonis Blue (m)
Small Blue (l)

Many plants colonising damaged land in the process of being extracted, or stockpiled materials, are important food plants for butterflies – such as buddleia, nettles, and thistles. These areas should be left undisturbed until restoration.

• Design restored land, to have sheltered sunny south-facing areas and diversity in the vegetation structure to provide sources of nectar for the adult butterfly and suitable plants for the egg and caterpillar stage.
• Whatever the after-use, there is always an opportunity to provide some areas which can attract butterflies, such as wide field margins in an agricultural restoration.
• The types of butterflies attracted will depend on the range of food plants available, which will vary in accordance with soil type and other conditions.

Great Crested Newt (s)
Palmate Newt (l)
Smooth Newt (l)
Common Toad (l)
Common Frog (l)

New wet areas created during extraction are often quickly colonised by amphibians. Minor modifications or protective action can help to ensure their survival during and after extraction.

• Amphibians require areas of water for reproduction and the aquatic stage of the life cycle, and surrounding damp areas of dense vegetation, hedgerows, rock piles and logs to provide food and shelter.
• All types of extraction where some areas are below the water table or where ponds and ditches can be created present opportunities for amphibians.

Adder (l)
Grass Snake (l)
Smooth Snake (l)
Common Lizard
Sand Lizard (s)
Slow Worm (l)

Note: all British reptiles are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Some reptiles will colonise damaged areas if basking areas and sheltered and underground areas for hibernation are available. If colonisation by any of the protected reptiles has taken place, it is an offence to disturb them. Any sites found to be important for reptiles should be retained.

• These reptiles have a variety of habitat needs, with the rarest – the Sand Lizard – being restricted by its habitat requirements of sand dunes and open heathland.
• There are opportunities in all restorations to provide for reptiles by studying their habitat requirements