The brown long-eared bat visits my office in Devizes

Posted on 10 July 201810 July 2018 by Debbie Newman

A more unusual visitor to my office!

The brown long-eared bat is easy to identify because of their unmistakable ears, which are almost as long as their body. In flight, their ears are held upright, but they curl back like ram’s horns or are tucked under their wings when the bat is at rest. These ears look rather like a pair of boxing gloves, I think…

Maybe I should take comfort to read that they frequently roost in houses, often in large open roof spaces of older buildings and generally roost singly or in small groups.

But it did only stay the one night!

Japanese Knotweed

Posted on 10 July 2018 by Debbie Newman

Following on from the legal fight between two householders and Network Rail failing to control Japanese Knotweed invading their neighbour’s property, three Appeal Court judges ruled in favour of the two householders. Their ruling at the beginning of July 2018 said that the householders were entitled to a payment from Network Rail because Network Rail failed to control the plant on its land.

Do watch out for this nasty invasive herbaceous perennial – Fallopia japonica. It is very prolific in July and is most easily recognized at this time of year by the tall (up to around 10’ tall clumps) with reddish stems which can be as thick as your arm.

Japanese Knotweed is a notifiable weed, like Himalayan Balsam and Ragwort, and it’s up to the property owner to ensure it is removed. You won’t be able to sell your property if it has knotweed as mortgage brokers won’t grant a mortgage and you can be fined £2,500 if you ignore its presence as this is considered a criminal offence. And following on from this latest legal ruling, as a property owner with knotweed growing onto neighbours’ property, you will be liable for hefty fines as well.

If you do suspect you may have this unwelcome visitor, please do give us a call and we can undertake a free site visit and suggest a plan of treatment to eradicate it properly. It really isn’t something you would want to try at home yourself!

See our web page about our other Weed Control activities here

Refurbishment to Bulford Firing Range “C”

Posted on 2 July 2018 by Debbie Newman

Following a long tender process with Landmarc Ltd, on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), we won the contract for the refurbishment to Bulford Firing Range “C” to bring it up to modern compliance specification. DIO is part of the Ministry of Defence.

The project required the old tarmac and timber range floor to be removed and the firing trenches replaced with pre-fabricated concrete structures made off-site. We then fitted recycled plastic edging and then covered the whole site in a soft-pour surface.

We completed the project within the month, due to strict time constraints. Although the range we were working on was closed for the works to be carried out, neighbouring ranges were kept in use with live firing on a daily basis. This is the first firing range on Salisbury Plain with this finish.

Landmarc/DIO now have a safer range with no ricochet hazard; one that is maintenance free and hard wearing.

See our Case Study here. Firing Range at Bulford June 2018 e