Garden Bat!

[J-Williams]

Nice! I have never seen a bat in broad daylight so lucky you, I would love to see their features in a good light! My friend had one fly in his kitchen and land on his cactus! Ouch! He had some great photo's though....

I love the sight of a Bat, I think they are amazing and extremely interesting! I love Chester Zoo's bat house, and I have also had the experience of one landing on me and one biting me!

We live near Penningto Flash (Five Minutes Walk) and there are alot of bats around, my dad used to spend hours watchin (from the kitchen window) bats fly over our garden, it consumed him....

Another great experience I had was at Holgates Campsite (Have you heard of it) and in a clearing in a Mini-Forest we stood there silently whilst bats flew over out heads, looking out to the sea and seeing the moons reflection in the waves, magical!

Sorry Ive gone of on a rant, Keep looking out for your bats and try to encourage them to the garden!

[Fieldfare95]

Hi, thanks for replying
Kept a look out but haven't seen one since, but what could I do to encourage them to the garden?

[J-Williams]

Well, Ive said this before and I will say it again, I know absaloutly nothing about Bats!

http://www.bats.org.uk/publications_...ated_Oct09.pdf

That was taken straight from the Bat Conservation Trust UK website, im my opinion, I would say the basics of encouraging bats to you garden would be a A bat box, the bat box must be close to a water source and better yet, have a pond, The bat box needs to be high but I am not sure how high! Aswell, bats need insects, so I guess if you attract insects to the garden, you will get Bats!

Like I say, I do not know much about bats!

[sunnydale]

We get lots of bats flying about in Bakewell. In the park, by the river, even around the garden too!....They seem to thrive here in Bakewell
I haven't spotted any this year yet though.

Tracey

[Ladywell]

The bonus of putting up a bat box or two is that (depending where you are) treecreepers love them as nest boxes - fledgings seem to love the back plate - and can go back to safety if needed. I know that there have been loads of treecreeper nest box designs but most don't work but bat boxes do!

[mycoranger]

If you wish to put up wooden boxes on a tree it's better putting up three at a time facing south-west, south and south-east. This is to allow the bats to move between boxes depending on the temperature. If you are putting a box on a building make sure it is facing in as southerly a direction as possible. Boxes should be constructed of rough wood to give the bats grip when they are hanging upside down and very importantly untreated wood, bats are very susceptible to environmental chemicals. In any case the boxes should be sited at least 2m from the ground, somewhere where cats can't easily access and should not be blocked by foliage or such but should have a clear route in and out. If you buy the boxes get them from somone reputable but it's better fun to make your own by reusing old pallets or similar and there are plenty on plans on the net.

All British bats eat insects so to attract them to your garden for a feed, cultivate plants like honeysuckle or night scented stock which will attract insects at night. Leave a portion of your lawn unmown, lots of insects for bats as well as cover for small mammals. Consider a pond, it does not need to be very big unless you want to have Daubentons feeding on it but big enough to have insects breeding in it.

If you do all that then maybe the bats will move in...then again maybe not :-)

[thunder]

Originally Posted by mycoranger

If you buy the boxes get them from somone reputable but it's better fun to make your own by reusing old pallets or similar and there are plenty on plans on the net.

Only use old pallets if you are really really certain they haven't been soaked in some nasty chemicals - pallets have more chance than most wood to be drenched in things unpleasant.

henrya

[Fieldfare95]

Thanks for the info
Going to consider putting some boxes up.