Bat populations have dramatically declined, especially over the last 50 years and some species are now extremely rare. The greater horseshoe bat, for example, is thought to have declined by 98%. Agricultural change; the loss of bat roosts, insect-rich habitats and insect prey as well as exposure to pesticides, are thought to have contributed to their decline. All bats and their roosts are protected by law from disturbance or destruction, because of the decline in populations.
All 17 species of bats in Britain feed on insects. Farmers can play an important role in bat conservation by maintaining or increasing the abundance of insects on the farm and by protecting and enhancing bat roost sites, feeding habitats and flyways. This can be incorporated into land management with relatively little extra effort, and financial assistance may be available through agri-environment schemes.
The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) has recently published guidelines for managing woodlands for bats, in conjunction with the Forestry Commission, English Nature and Countryside Council for Wales – download the PDF from http://www.bats.org.uk/news_events/documents/WoodlandManagementForBats_web.pdf (4mb file). BCT would like to produce similar guidelines on managing farmland for bats, taking into account the variety of foraging habitats (such as wetland, hedgerows and grassland) and roosting habitats (woodland and farm buildings) that this may include. Do people think that this would be useful for farmers to have?
More information on bats and their conservation is available from the Bat Conservation Trust’s website at www.bats.org.uk or by calling the Bat Helpline on 0845 1300 228.
As a farmer I do think that kind of information about bats would be a useful resource. We have access to advice about bird conservation but personally I am frustrated at the aparent lack of information about harvest mice.....another small mammal which I imagine must be pretty unusual now. We have them on our farm but since they are not an endangered bird species no one seems interested. Comments?
The more info the better-when I did my BETA course was unable to find out much about bats or small mammals. I feel reasonably confident in improving habitats for plants and birds, but don't know enough to know if I'm helping our bats, or even what species we've got around the farm. On a financial note, its good to know wht's about when we're point scoring for schemes!
David Harrison