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We have 18 species of bat in the UK, and all but one are known to be breeding here. Unfortunately the populations of these bats are declining and its really important that we consider why.
Bats have featured heavily in the media in relation to the current Covid-19 pandemic with headlines from ‘The Bats Behind the Pandemic’ and ‘You can’t get sick from your dog or cat. But bats are loaded with virus.’ The involvement of bats in the origins and spread of the pandemic is still debated by scientists worldwide, but myself and many other conservations believe that bats should definitely not get the blame- humans should.
Bats are wild animals, and of course like all others have diseases in their populations. It is thought that the way in which the virus infiltrated human populations was through an intermediate animal- possibly a pangolin, and likely this was at a wet market in China. If humans weren’t killing, trading and consuming wild animals at markets such as these, the likelihood of this cross-species disease transmission would be much much less.
The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), an amazing charity in the UK that I have previously volunteered with, are understandably frustrated with the lies and rumours that the media has presented about bats throughout the pandemic, and the effect it has had. The general public now fears bats much more than before which is really damaging for the future of UK bat conservation.
Bats have always been viewed as scary, haunting animals especially at times like Halloween, but really they shouldn’t be feared at all! I have only seen bats a handful of times in my life and as I’m sure anyone who has will agree, they are really harmless and tend to keep themselves to themselves.
The most common species of bat in the UK is the pipistrelle. It is a very small species - only 5cm long, and feeds on insects in the night. They are really cute and fluffy with a dark brown body and darker coloured face and wings. There is one key difference between pipistrelles and the other species; pipistrelles rely on built structures for their roosts, whereas other species are happier roosting in crevices in outdoor spaces.
This means that we need to be really careful about construction work disturbing these roosts, as we must remember bats are a protected species in the UK and by law, we must consider their presence and prevent disturbances to their roosts.
If you would like to find out more about bats in the UK and how you can help conserve them, please visit the BCT website, where some of the information for this nature note was extracted from: https://www.bats.org.uk/about-bats/what-are-bats/uk-bats.