Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2016 | Page 66

Country life

Ten things you never knew about...
• Of over 1,300 species worldwide, 17 are known
to breed in the UK.
• Pipistrelles are the bats you’re most likely to
see in your garden. They weigh the same as a
2p coin, and you can spot them by their erratic
flight path.
• All British bats eat insects - a pipistrelle can eat
up to 500 insects an hour!
• The Island is home to a one of our last
remaining UK strongholds of the rare grey
long-eared bat. It’s estimated there are only
1,000 left in the UK in total.

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Bats

• Bats aren’t blind – but at night their
echolocation skills become incredibly
important to help them hunt their prey.
• British bats hibernate during the winter as
it’s difficult to find food during these cooler
months - they begin to wake and become
more active again around March.

• Bats don’t create nests, but instead roost
upside down or in crevices like hollow trees,
caves, and roof spaces.

• You can listen to bats’ calls by using a bat
detector. Different species echolocate at
different frequencies, and can sound very
different.

• For several weeks in summer females gather in
a maternity roost, choosing somewhere warm
to give birth, feed and look after their baby. As
they are mammals, they produce milk.

• Bats are threatened by loss of habitat – but you
can help by putting up bat boxes, and growing
pollinator-friendly plants in your garden to
encourage insects to visit, and bats to thrive.

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