White Clawed Crayfish Surveys

The white-clawed crayfish is the only native species of crayfish in the UK. Quants has staff experienced in crayfish survey and whether your project involves retaining walls, watercourse realignment or bridge works we will do the right type of survey for your site. Timely action from us can avoid delays, minimise your costs and ensure project delivery.

White clawed crayfish live in a diverse variety of clean aquatic habitats, but especially favour well-oxygenated hard-water streams and rivers. However, they may sometimes be found in less optimal habitats, such as reservoirs, canals and quarry pools. They have suffered drastic declines over the last few decades from a combination of habitat destruction, pollution and disease from non-native signal crayfish. Signal and other non-native crayfish are larger and more aggressive than the native species and are able to produce more young. Consequently, the introduced species pose a threat not only because some are disease-carriers (crayfish plague), but also through predation and competition with white-clawed crayfish. In the UK, signal crayfish are now well-established in the wild.

Surveys may be required for white-clawed crayfish if distribution and historical records suggest they may be present, or development or repair works are likely to cause damage to known populations. Trapping surveys must be undertaken by a licensed ecologist between July and October or in April, and mitigation can take place during the same months.