If it was a Schedule I species, this can legally prevent work from being done. A few years ago my brother was asked by the BTO to check on a breeding pair of black redstart at a site being redeveloped in Central London and when he confirmed the identity this forced the work to be stopped for several weeks until they fledged.
Earlier this year I observed a rare bird for GM nesting. Duly reported it to the county recorder. Recently at the same site I noticed a large amount of repair work and a JCB that had driven back and forth over the nest site. No harm done breeding season over hope to see it next year.
BUT is that a coincidence that the powers that be have actually considered and more surprisingly knew of the nest site and waited until the breeding season was over, or am I too optomistic?
In Moses Gate Bolton recently a similar JCB drove back and forth over a unique plant for GM on part of its only known site. It did a lot of damage. The excuse from park authorities was they did not know the work was being done despite the site being known and a SSSI.
