As the seasons begin to shift, we wanted to let you know that booking is now open for our next bat walk. With the evenings drawing in fast, our next walk is at a very family friendly time of 6.45pm.

Meet our famous bats

Our last bat walk was touch and go on the weather but we were all surprised at the amount of bats we saw with our own eyes and we identified using our heterodyne bat detectors. This is an amazing experience for adults and children alike. Our next walk will take place on Saturday 30th September, meeting at 6.45pm. Book your free tickets here . 

Our new Campaign

We are campaigning for a green overbridge (where the new lane crosses over the HS2 tracks), with planting, to reconnect the wildlife corridor and encourage wildlife and bats to continue to commute and forage along the lane, while still continuing the campaign to have the new bridge to the north of the existing lane, and so preserve the remaining trees in order to prevent further fragmentation of the corridor.

The green bridge is justified by the report on our bat data which you can read here
The report shows that the lane is a site of regional importance, and probably a juvenile sustenance zone, near to a maternity roost. This was not recognised in the HS2 Environmental Statement. 

We are asking for a commitment from HS2 with regards the disused parts of the current Leather Lane - we are asking them to consider setting up Leather Lane as a bat SAC (Special Area of Conservation) - accessible to local community groups  - which would help HS2 to meet it’s commitment to protecting biodiversity. For more information see here

A last plea

For several years, we have campaigned to preserve the wildlife corridor formed by a line of oak trees, planted beside Leather Lane by the Liberty family. This is now one of the last remaining East-West links across the HS2 route, and so heavily used by wildlife, particularly bats. The HS2 design specifies a new bridge, to be constructed on the south side of the lane, which would pass through the tree corridor twice. 
So far, the Campaign has
Paid a Consultant Engineer to design a bridge to the North side of the lane, which allows all the remaining 87 trees to be preserved.
Raised over £25,000 (by a crowdfunder) to pay for this.
Held a meeting with EKFB (the HS2 contractors) and Bucks councillors, at which it was established that our bridge design meets the required specifications.
Conducted a bat survey over many nights, before and after some of the trees were felled, and paid for this to be analysed. The endangered Barbastelle bat was recorded on numerous occasions, along with 6 other species.
Drawn attention to the failure of the contractor to implement the required tree protection measures for the trees to be retained; this has now been rectified.
Gathered 43,000 signatures on a petition to save these trees.
Our immediate objective is to put pressure on HS2/EKFB to adopt our design, and failing that, to persuade Bucks Council to refuse permission for the south side bridge. This is now possible, as it has been shown that the development “could reasonably be carried out elsewhere”.

Engineers and Ecologists are not cheap!  

Please contribute to our Crowdfunder, and help us bring the campaign to save Leather Lane to a successful conclusion.

DONATE HERE