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How Do I Change Bat Feeding Areas

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Bats and Farms

There are 17 species of bats in the UK. All feed solely on insects, mostly in flight at night. They eat large numbers, some of which are pests to our crops or buildings. Bats roost in daytime, hidden away in deep crevices in buildings (roofs, walls) and trees (rot holes, cracks). In winter, when few insects are around, they hibernate in cool places, buffered from temperature changes outside � cellars, cavity walls, tree holes. In summer the females gather to produce single babies. Farm buildings and land are important to bats � they provide their insect food and shelter.

Many bats are now rare or endangered due to rapid changes in the countryside, including loss of roosting places and food sources. All bats and their roosting places are protected by law from disturbance or destruction.

Pipistrelle - our smallest bat, only 4 cms long

Management to benefit bats

To provide insects

  • Shelterbelts are important for bats. Insects collect along the sheltered side of woodland. Aim for a diverse age range of trees to encourage diversity of insects.
  • Hedgerows provide similar shelter if allowed to grow high. Mixed species increase insect diversity. Bats also use hedgerows as route-markers when they traverse countryside at night. Tall, emergent trees in hedges and field corners are used by bats as �signposts� to find their bearings when flying in the dark.
  • Leave 1-2 metre field margin strips to encourage insect activity. (See separate leaflet on field margin strips for more details)
  • Muck-heaps attract insects and become feeding stations at night.
  • Water bodies surrounded by trees and shrubs attract large numbers of insects. Bats also need to drink on the wing, like swallows. Include some areas of open water on your farm. This might require renovating or clearing some of the ponds on your farm. Take advice before altering or creating ponds as valuable habitat could be damaged. (See separate leaflet on ponds).

To provide roosts

  • Buildings of all types can be used as day-roosts if the bats can gain access � open window, gaps over doors, 2cm gaps under eaves or gable apex. They may hang on roof beams or tuck into old beam joints. They may be under hanging tiles or behind the soffits, under lead flashing or under ridge tiles. Very few species are visible when roosting, most tuck deep into crevices. At night, bats will enter open-sided buildings to rest.
  • Consider putting up bat boxes around the farm. These are like bird boxes with a slot underneath instead of a hole and are especially well used by bats in woodland.

Brown long-eared bats roosting on the ridge beam of a barn

Potential problem issues

  • Avoid pesticide drift. Morning spraying will allow time for insects to die before the bats feed, so they are less likely to ingest poisoned insects.
  • Some animal wormers can persist in dung, reducing insect populations. Use these products sensitively, particularly in mid-late summer when bats have young.
  • Don�t cut down dead or decaying trees unless there is a need for safety reasons. Trees may have rot holes, woodpecker holes, splits or loose bark on branches or the trunk, all of which may be used by bats at all times of the year.
  • Similarly, barn conversions could cause loss of roost sites � some of our rarer bats roost in timber joints.
  • Hedgerow loss reduces foraging areas and route markers for bats.
  • Disappearance of water bodies affects bat feeding

Recommendations

  • Create wide field margins of uncultivated land around fields - manage as for butterflies and bees.
  • Create a continuous, high, mixed hedgerow joining up all areas of the farm, managed as for birds with rotational cutting or laying.
  • Provide roosting opportunities in buildings, especially barns, with permanently open windows or doors, gaps around eaves, darkened areas of roof space.
  • Re-instate or create farm ponds.
  • Plant and manage shrubs on windward side of pond or lake.

Good bat feeding area - mosiac of high hedgerows, hay field, grazing and woodland edge.

  • Leave dead wood on trees wherever possible.
  • Erect bat boxes in woodland and along hedgerow trees.
  • Muck-heaps in different areas will increase bat feeding.
  • Always check for bats roosting in crevices before working on trees or buildings

Relevant legislation

  • Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (modified by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000).
  • The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994.

Further information

For further information including possible grant aid contact your local FWAG Adviser and visit the FWAG website at www.fwag.org.uk.

  • Bats by Phil Richardson, 2000. Published by Whittet.
  • Bat Conservation Trust, 15 Cloisters, 8 Battersea Park Rd., London SW8 4BG. Website at www.bats.org.uk
  • See also FWAG Technical Information Sheets on Field and Hedgerow Trees, Ponds, Field Margins.

Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy in the information sheet. However, FWAG cannot accept liability for any errors or omission.
Photographs supplied by Bat Conservation Trust.
Author Phil Richardson and FWAG.
27.1 Jan 2004

mattislour1949.blogspot.com

Source: http://adlib.everysite.co.uk/adlib/defra/content.aspx?doc=90734&id=90779

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