GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - OT

06-09-2003, 10:42 AM

(AlisonAPg) wrote in message ...
ubject: OT - Bats and Buildings
From: "Alison"
Date: 05/09/2003 20:03 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:

I'm in a bit of a quandary. There are some old cow byres next door to us
that have been out of use for some time and the bats have moved in. I have
today heard that the farmer is going to take the roof off the byres as it's
unsafe but what happens to the bats? Aren't they protected and therefore
you can't just go around unhousing them? I don't want to upset the
relationship we have with the farmer but I don't want the bats ousted/harmed
either.

What would you do in this situation?

--Alison

Does the farmer know they are there?

Bats use different roosts at different times of the year, so with
temperatures falling they're now about to move on anyhow. If you have
space you could put up a few bat hibernation boxes to help out
(designs available from the Nature Conservancy Council etc, or your
County Naturalist Trust).

I imagine these bats will find somewhere else for next summer,
especially if there's woodland about; but I agree it's worrying. But,
again, we can't risk people or farm livestock with a dangerous roof:
dilemma.

I wouldn't damage a good relationship with the farmer over this: as I
say, I don't think the bats are in actual immediate danger, and he may
even be interested enough to provide a bit of simple shelter for next
year.

I don't know if you have any spare time, but for a few years I used to
go into the village school an afternoon a week to do nature-related
activities with the children: this discreetly trickled back up to the
parents, and I think did a bit of good. One of the things we did was
actually to make and set up bat boxes. Farmers aren't stupid: thick
farmers are an extinct species these days, though under pressure some
of them of course develop tunnel vision; and because they live here,
they *are* actually interested in the countryside.

Mike.