Fed up of the midges? Then help bats thrive in the Highlands!
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Making Space for Nature by Saranne Bish
Although oft maligned in our history, bats are amazing creatures – they are our only flying mammal species, which is completely unique and worth stopping and thinking about for a moment.
Bats are a protected species, and Scotland hosts nine of the 17 species that live in the UK. The common pipistrelle is the hardiest of these bats, where it is found roosting as far north as Orkney.
This bat often likes to roost in buildings, and in the Highlands they prove a useful predator on another maligned Scottish species – the midge – with the pipistrelle bat able to devour 3000 in a night.
These amazing mammals hunt at night and "echo-locate" to find and home-in on their chosen food species in the dark. They do this by emitting rapid ultrasonic high-pitched squeaks in their voice box and emit these through their nose or mouth.
These squeaks are too high a frequency for most humans to hear, although young children may do so. Contrary to popular belief, however, bats have as good a vision as you or I.
Fossil records shows that bats haven’t hugely evolved from their original form. They inhabit a range of environments throughout most continents of the world and there are over 1400 species of bats with more being discovered every day.
Changes to bat populations can indicate changes in other aspects of biodiversity. Bats suffer when there are declines in bug life or when habitats are reduced or poorly managed – in particular, around large or old woodlands.
Predators of bats are not widely known, other than the occasional goshawks, sparrowhawks, gulls and corvids – and pine martens have been recorded as predators in continental European studies. Domestic cats are also known to hunt bats, so keeping your cat inside at night will reduce that predatory pressure.
How can we help these gorgeous enigmatic creatures? One way is to turn your garden into a bat haven.
You can achieve this through simple means, such as by reducing the number of artificial lights in your garden – think about turning lights off, which is, of course, energy saving too.
Other ways include planting out night-scenting flowers, such as honeysuckle, which will attract moths – a great source of food for bats. However, any diversity of planting will bring in the bugs, and then inevitably the bats.
You could also consider putting up some bat boxes in trees or around your garden or community as an accessible habitat for roosting.
Finally, you can record what bats fly in your area by taking part in a bat survey run by the Bat Conservation Trust. If you are keen to record your sightings year-round, then you may submit your results to the Highland Biological Recording Group or use the the iNaturalist app.
High Life Highland countryside rangers can help with identification and will be organising a number of bat monitoring walks where members of the public can learn more about these delightful creatures. See www.highlifehighland.com/rangers/upcoming-events for details.
- Making Space for Nature is a monthly wildlife column with tips about how we can act to help wildlife in our communities. This month’s wildlife columnist is Saranne Bish, the High Life Highland countryside ranger for Badenoch, Strathspey and Nairn.
- Saranne studied Physical Geography at Liverpool University. She worked as an ecological surveyor on Merseyside and then Highlands and Islands, before taking up the role of Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey countryside ranger in 2002.
