bat boxes and houses

[splodger]

bats have been mentioned in a few threads recently - along with bat houses etc - so just thought i'd post a pic of a bat house my dad made about 15 years ago. it was actually made for an exhibition garden at hampton court flower show and was put together for the designer to give it the once over before a lorry was sent to pick it up - but the bats found it and moved in - so we wouldn't move it - it's been sat by our woods entrance ever since

[oldclaypaws]

Charming and Rustic. Looks like a 'Lychgate' -often seen at the entrance to Churchyards- they were used to give shelter to a coffin and mourners prior to a burial service (from old English Lych; corpse). Could come in useful if your family decide to plant you in the wood after you expire? I'm going in mine with the dogs, but hopefully not for a good while. You may also find a number 28 bus sometimes pulls up alongside it to collect passengers perhaps?

What is under the roof for the little furry darlings to hang from? Huge compliment to your Dads design that they moved in so quickly. Small point; any grief over planning? -could be deemed a permanent structure, albeit for a worthy purpose.

I've read a favourite bat roost is ivy on old trees, good reason to value it, its great habitat.

[Dexter's Shed]

does anyone have plans on building bat boxes??
having spotted a few bats at dusk on our camping trips, it would be nice to encourage more

[splodger]

there's a false ceiling in the roof section - so the top section is boxed in, creating a large void for the bats to hang in peace.
i guess the bats like that particular area of the wood - because directly behind the house is a gravel pit - during wet months this fills with water - so lots more insects etc for food

[oldclaypaws]

We acquired a Magenta heterodyne 4 bat detector for about £60 and its quite fascinating and fun going out listening for them. Its apparent they like clearings and woodland fringes to feed. Only a limited number of bats actually feed among the trees, but they do use them for roosting. If you want to encourage them the way to do it is clearings and rides to increase the food supply. Light > flora > insects > birds & bats. (simplistically). We are fairly sure from the detector we have pipistrelles, they natter away at about 45 Hz.