anyone know much about bats?

[hubgearfreak]

there's a piece of land behind our house. there's bats about at dusk, but whether they live in our gardens/houses or the unused land i don't know. i would like the 'powers that be' to know before planning is applied for and granted to turn the wildlife haven into housing.

anyone know where to start?

thanks. HGF and the bats

[meic]

Here is a start.

I dont fully understand how the law works but when we wanted to repair our bat ridden workshop, it was actually a volunteer from the bat society who came and told us it was OK to do so.

[ferrit worrier]

Here's a good start

http://www.bats.org.uk/

The presence of bats can bring all sorts of building work to a standstill

Malc

ok its a second start meic beat me to it

[Brian R Pateman]

Bats often like to live in the roof space of new properties. I assume that the present fad for UPVC soffits and barge boards makes this difficult for them.

When we lived in Wales we had a roost in each end of the house. The bats were no problem and we enjoyed watching them come out at dusk. One of our cats used to enjoy climbing onto the roof and trying to catch them as they emerged (they are very like flying mice).

As she took no notice of my warning that the bat is a protected species the roof soon sprouted a wire mesh fence around the edge.

Unfortunately we don't have bats in our present house, there isn't room for them as the roof is a home for starlings!

[bogmyrtle]

Bats are more likely to be roosting in existing buildings rather than out in the countryside. Because they are protected, their presence in a building can prevent works being carried out on the building.

[Tacascarow]

Bats are more likely to be roosting in existing buildings rather than out in the countryside. Because they are protected, their presence in a building can prevent works being carried out on the building.

Indeed it is the building being used by bats that have restrictions not open spaces.
If there are any large trees due to be felled before work commences it's worth getting them checked out.

[HPFlashman]

They taste like chicken...

[meic]

You would have to have quite a lot of them to find that out!

I reckon it would take half a dozen pipistrelles to get a mouth full.

[axel_knutt]

Flat ones are for cricket, round ones for baseball.