As the property market begins to move again, the demand in bat ecologists has increased.

July witnessed the biggest proportion of real-estate agents and surveyors in two years indictating increases in home values, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

According to Jennifer Graham, director at green recruiter Catherine Green Recruitment, several of her clients have been looking to recruit for fully licensed bat ecologists. The flying mammal is a protected species and companies can be prosecuted and high fines handed out to individuals if firms do not act in the correct manner.

Graham told Recruiter: “It is only wise to have all areas covered, that’s where a fully licensed bat specialist comes in handy.

“The increase for us is due to the projects that the clients have on board and that we are in the middle of the bat season, where all the new bats are learning how to fly and the rest are getting fattened up for when they go back into hibernation for the winter.”