Have you seen any bats this year?

We bought this house over sixteen years ago and for a long time one of the joys of sitting outside in the summer as it got dusk was to watch the bats skittering across the evening sky. But this year I can't recall seeing any bats at all. What's happened to them? Where have they gone? Well, I've got my own theory - the redevelopment of Oulton Cross in the last few years.

The most significant event has been the demolition of a detached house at the back of our house and the building of Harding Grove on the land. The house has gone and so have all the trees in the orchard plus two old brick pig sties and an old garden shed. OK - during the planning process, some so called expert turned up for an hour or so with a bat meter and declared the site had no resident bat roosts.
And several other large houses up the road have had extensions added to the sides of the building. Of course, the planners don't require bat surveys just for extensions. And then at the top of the road, again old garages and outhouses were demolished to erect a small estate of half a dozen new houses.

Now some may say it's just a coincidence that all of this development has taken place at the same time as the bat population vanishes. Sorry, I just don't buy that. Unless someone can come up with a better explanation I am convinced that we are killing off our bat populations by all the development that is taking place. It should be compulsory that a full and proper bat survey be carried out where any building work is proposed and that includes every proposal to add an extension or any interference with the existing external structure.

Am I on my own on this one? Have you seen any bats this year?