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Heritage Grant Award
Bats in the Belfry?
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Bats in the Belfry?
Location: Kent
As a group, bats are a success story. Of the 4,680 species of mammal in the world, nearly a fifth (about 900) are bats. However, some bat species in the UK are not doing so well. Out of the 16 species left in Britain, six are endangered or rare and six others are vulnerable. Sadly, it is too late for the greater mouse-eared bat, which was declared extinct 12 years ago.
 There are many misconceptions about bats. One is that they are blind. Actually bats have good eyesight, and are expert fliers due to their echolocation (a form of sonic navigation) abilities. So stories of bats flying into people’s hair are unlikely to be true. They also rarely live in belfries. They prefer quiet, cobweb- and draft-free roosting sites, where they can sleep without disturbance.
The Kentish Stour Countryside project is working to dispel some of the popular bat myths by taking people on guided walks through a disused railway tunnel, which is inhabited by three species of bats including the little-known Natterer’s bat. The Crab and Winkle Line, between Canterbury and Whitstable, was the first scheduled passenger steam railway in the world. The entrance of the 174-year-old tunnel is situated at The Archbishop’s School, and the project team are working with the students and the rest of the community to raise awareness about the bats that live there.
 “We’ve been working with the Kent Bat Group, who have been leading bat walks through the tunnel” explained Jon Shelton, countryside manager of the project. “They take bat detectors on the walks, so that people can hear which species are about. We’ve erected an interpretive panel near the entrance of the tunnel to inform people about its history and value to wildlife.” The group have also commissioned a sculpture and plan to distribute educational leaflets to local libraries. The tunnel is already protected from disturbance through the Wildlife & Countryside Act and is known and recognised as an important hibernation roost.
Support for bats also comes in the form of the South Lancashire Bat Group’s ‘Conserve Bats, Conserve Heritage’ Project. The group are studying bat activity over a range of water bodies, demonstrating the importance of millponds as a refuge for wildlife in urban areas.
 Bats are threatened by loss of habitat, which affects both their roosting sites and their feeding grounds, and also by deliberate killing. In Britain it is illegal to disturb bats or the places where they roost, and they are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. However, a report published by the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) and the RSPB in August 2003 showed that crimes against bats are extensive throughout the UK, and that bat populations must be suffering as a result. Eighty per cent of these crimes involved the damage or destruction of a bat roost, which affects the entire colony.
If you think you may have bats roosting in your house, then count yourself lucky! They cause no damage and are clean animals. The BCT ask that you contact them if you do have bats as lodgers so that they can identify the species. If you want to attract these unique animals to your garden - and do your bit for conservation - then there are a couple of things you can do. Bat boxes are available from many outlets, and these can be positioned in trees or buildings. Plus you can make your garden bat-friendly by planting night-flowering plants, which attract the insect prey that bats hunt.
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