T
here are 18 species of bat in Britain, all with slightly different roosting requirements. In urban environments, gardens and parks are the places that bats commonly use to feed and find shelter. The species of bats that are more likely to forage for food in urban gardens are pipistrelle’s (common, soprano and Nathusius), noctule, brown long-eared bat and Daubenton’s bat. Gardens in countryside locations could support many more species, depending on the location in the UK, the microhabitats nearby and the presence of good roosting locations nearby. There could even be a roost in your garden right now!
Why Are Bats Beneficial?
Bats are very important for the environment and for biodiversity. In some countries where there are fruit and nectar eating bats, they contribute to pollination and seed dispersal. In the UK, all bats are insectivorous. They benefit your garden as they can help you to cope with annoying garden pests. One bat can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes/midges an hour!
How to Attract Bats into Your Garden
Bats will be more likely to come into your garden if you provide them with water, shelter and food…
Water – Build a Pond
The pond is the centrepiece of your garden as it will not only provide bats with water but it will also attract insects that bats can feed on. Your pond will be an attraction for other wildlife as well, such as birds and amphibians. Build the pond with a shallow sloping edge so that any none-aquatic wildlife can escape if it accidentally falls in. Even if you only have a small garden or yard, a small pond will still benefit wildlife.
Shelter – Put Up a Bat Box in Your Garden
You can either purchase a bat box or make one yourself. If you decide to make a bat box on your own, make sure you use un-planed and untreated wood without wood preservatives. Bats like to cling to rough timber surfaces and can be harmed by treated wood. Your bat box should be placed on trees or buildings at a height of 2-3m. Bats prefer warm places, so a southern or western orientation is ideal. The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) have a useful guide to bat boxes on their website. 
Food – Grow Different Kinds of Plants and Flowers to Attract Insects
British bats feed on a wide range of insects and different bat species prefer different types of insects. Individual bats eat a range of insect species; however, each bat species does have a general preference for the type of insects they consume. For example:
- Long-eared bats often eat Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). Small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies are commonly eaten and feeding remains often found in their roosts;
- Lesser horseshoe bats consume a huge amount of Diptera (flies). These bats catch small flies such as midges and mosquitos while in flight (on the wing);
- Noctule often consume larger insects such as Coleoptera (beetles) by their aerial hawking feeding strategy. As one of our more light-tolerant species, noctules are known to use urban street lighting to hunt for prey as it can attract insects;
- Natterer’s bat is known for taking a wide range of prey by a variety of methods. This is most likely because of their preference for woodland habitats, which sustains many different insect species in varying abundances throughout the year.
Insects and invertebrates are attracted into gardens by a wide range of plant species. As bats are nocturnal, it is good practice to grow night-scented flowers to attract night-flying insects into your garden. It is good to have a variety of plants and flowers in your garden so as to make your garden a magnet for insects. A greater diversity of flowering plant species will increase the diversity of insect species. This in turn will attract a greater number of bats. There are several examples of plants and flowers that are night-scented, some great examples include jasmine, evening primrose, stocks, honeysuckle and lavender.
Habitat Features
Another element that will assist your efforts to attract bats to your garden is to plant trees and shrubs. There are several reasons for this. For example, bats use trees to find shelter between the slips in their trunks, or branches. Noctule bats in particular prefer to roost in trees rather than buildings. Bats utilise trees as sign posts in order to navigate around the landscape. Trees and hedgerows often form important parts of the regular flying routes that bats use to commute to and from their roosts and feeding grounds. Trees also attract insects which as we have seen, are important food sources for bats. Having uncut grass or allowing sections of lawn to grow long allows for more grasses to flower and for other plants to establish. In turn, this creates more ecological niches that can be exploited by invertebrates (bat food!). Planting a variety of different sized plants in your garden can also help.
Check the video below to see how you can help bats in your garden. Bats are in decline in the UK, but this video shows you a few simple things you can do to help them.
Our licensed bat survey specialists are able to undertake all aspects of bat surveys including initial bat scoping surveys, dusk emergence and dawn re-entry flight activity surveys and remote monitoring. We have several years’ experience in the design and implementation of mitigation strategies for bats including the construction of bespoke bat roosts, bat exclusions and bat roost enhancement, as well as applying for European Protected Species licences for bats.
For more information about the Ecology Services, we can offer, call us on 029 2065 0331, contact us on info@acerecology.co.uk or click here for examples of our work.
