WILD MONTH

With verdant hedgerows, the hum of insects, warmer days and milder nights, summer is in full swing.

- Ben Hoare

1 .BATS

Count our blessings

As long as there have been churches, bats have used them for their maternity colonies. The big, complex roof spaces could almost have been designed with bats in mind, thanks to their numerous exits and countless dark corners, perfect for nursing mothers and their babies to hide in.

About 6,000 of Britain’s old churches were once estimated to contain bat roosts, but a new survey being carried out by Bats in Churches aims to produce a more up-to-date figure. By involving local congregations, the study will hopefully also lead to more positive PR for bats, often maligned for the mess their droppings make.

We joke about ‘bats in the belfry’, yet in reality, church towers are draughty and noisy. In summer, maternity colonies are more likely to be found in warm, southerly parts of the church roof. At least nine of the UK’s 17 breeding bat species have been recorded in churches, sometimes in mixed-species roosts, but all containing adult females (males roost elsewhere).

Common and soprano pipistrelles are the most frequent lodgers, along with Natterer’s bats, brown long-eared bats (pictured) and serotines. However, during a trial run of the survey, an extremely rare grey long-eared bat was found in a Devon church, so there could be some surprises in store.

GET INVOLVED

To help the Bats in Churches survey, visit batsinchurches.org

2 .MEADOWSWEET

Sweet treat