Our colleagues at Thornham Walks and the Upper Waveney Valley Project held a very popular bat box making event at Thornham on 16th February.
About 35 children came to make bat boxes which most of them took home hopefully to entice bats into their gardens.
Where to site bat boxes
- Site them in a sheltered position as high up as possible on a tree or wall making sure the entrance is clear
- Attach the box securely. If you are fixing your box to a tree, make sure you don't cause damage.
- Once the bat box is in place, don't disturb it. Bats and bat roosts are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
- The occupancy of boxes can be checked by watching at dusk during the summer and looking very carefully for the small black droppings underneath.
- Bats need insects to feed on, so if you have a pond with varied planting, will help encourage insects
- Scented night-time flowers attract moths on which bats may feed
- Pipistralle bats (the most common species in Britain) often hunt in more open country, so gardens with large grassy areas may be more popular
- Noctule bats are often seen near4 hedgerows or in deciduous woodland. If you are close to a wooded area, having a mixed native hedge can concentrate the supply of insects on which a variety of bat species feed.
- Larger species, such as Daubentons bat, often hunt over water so a good sized pond is an advantage.
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