Talkback: Gardening for bats - Talkback

22/07/2011 at 16:14

the other night i was out in my back garden talking over the fence to my neighbour,and there was about 2 or 3 flying over our heads,they were that low we could see through there wings and even witnessed 1 of them catching a moth in its mouth,really brill to stand and watch. they were very tiny....i do have 2 bat boxes up but unsure if they have nested in them.

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23/07/2011 at 10:22

We are lucky, one of our neighbors has a couple of conifers (taller than the house) and bats have roosted there as long as I have lived here (11 years). Our lounge is at the back of the house so we get a daily display from the comfort of my sofa. It is great to watch them flying over my pond and garden.

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23/07/2011 at 14:10

Saw some fabulous bats on holiday last week in Jersey, at Gerald Durrell's wildlife park. They were Livingstone's fuit bats. http://www.durrell.org/Animals/Mammals/Livingstones-fruit-bat/ What struck me was how incredibly beautiful they were. http://www.mandysutter.com/reluctant-gardener-day-340-a-watched-crop-never-grows/

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23/07/2011 at 16:49

Can anyone tell me if it is passable to propagate Flocks

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23/07/2011 at 18:40

happy1,answer to your request yes you can propagate flocks, all you need is a bit of this a bit of that and a nice hot day,,, THEN hay presto..................muhahahaha

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23/07/2011 at 21:27

I saw my first bat ever tonight, strangely just before I read this blog. It seemed to be flying around over three back gardens, ours included. It was fascinating to watch. It seemed to be following the same path over and over again. I remember my dad saying years ago, that when he was walking the dog one night, a bat flew straight into his forehead. The bat's radar obviously wasn't working properly! They were both stunned, but both were ok!

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23/07/2011 at 22:21

Interesting to know that we have a "bat friendly" garden. We knew that the bats from the local woods flew past but delighted to know that the honeysuckle and other plants we have in our garden are supplying the insect live required to sustain their dietry needs!

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24/07/2011 at 07:25

When I have been in the garden in the evening I have seen bats flying about. I don't know where they are roosting but I know its not in my roof. I don't use pesticides to kill the bugs I just let nature take care of it and it works just fine, so I hope the bats like my garden, would love to see one close up though.

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24/07/2011 at 09:40

I'm very lucky as my little cottage is home to a family of bats also i have 3 bat boxes around my garden and all have bats in them. A few weeks ago i had a very injured bat in my back garden,took it to the vets but she put it down,i have no idea how it was attacked but it had been pulled to pieces[sorry if that offends anyone],maybe a cat had attacked it. My husbands hobbie is taking photos of them at dust and we have some lovely shots,one in particular has a large moth in its mouth also we are now trying to find out what sort of moth it was,we back onto woods with large oaks in it so if anyone has an idea please reply.. We are also interested in there diet so your blog has helped us a lot.

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24/07/2011 at 12:01

In my wildlife garden frequented by butterflies and moths it is not surprising that, when my compost heaps and green wheelie bin are full and I resort to a bonfire of brambles, my companions are bats in the evening. I cherish them as they eat some moths that can be pests in the garden. Evening primrose, your moth is likely to be an Oak Beauty (Biston stratiatia) whose larva feeds on oak.

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24/07/2011 at 15:48

We have bats flying around some small and some large. Each evening they fly past my bed room window and you can hear them squeak. I will now have to find out where they come from. Glad I didnot go mad tiding my garden. Love the idea that I am helping nature.

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25/07/2011 at 14:45

regards to lazygardner,,,, i didnt think human ears could hear the noise of bats as its to high pitched....however i maybe wrong.

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25/07/2011 at 15:43

Kate According to internet we can hear the squeak of young bats. So the ones flying around, must be young!!!Will be keeping a look out tonight and making sure they are bats I'm hearing.

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25/07/2011 at 17:22

Last week we was having some decorating done, and the loft hatch was left out as it was being painted. Later on in the basin in the bathroom was a very tiny bat in the plug hole. We did not know what to do with it so we put it out of the window and it flew off hopefully we did right

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26/07/2011 at 06:09

Thanks for the reminder. Last year, when we first arrived at our 10 year neglected rural garden, plenty of bats zooming overhead at dusk. But I don't recall them this year...I must do more homework on bats on whether I have done anything to steer them away.

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26/07/2011 at 21:41

lucky for us we have a large garden and regularly watch them swooping and flying round. Unfortunately for our next door neighbours they have bats in their flat roof,we watch them filing out at dusk and have counted 24 in one go(there was more) and wonder what on earth can be done with them, they know they cant be moved whilst they have young but then what? They hear them scratching and squeaking prior to them coming out, any suggestions?

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27/07/2011 at 08:58

Thanks for all your comments, lovely to hear so many bat stories. Lazygardener - I thought only young humans could hear the sound of bats, maybe you just have exceptional hearing?? How exciting. safla - if you call the National Bat Helpline on the number above they might be able to advise you. Kate

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27/07/2011 at 15:52

Great to hear how many people have bats as regular visitors and how popular they are. We see them flying across our back garden many evenings in the season even though we live on a housing estate. There are large ones and smaller ones. We have heard their squeak when they fly over the skylight in the attic bedroom. They are wonderful creatures.

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29/07/2011 at 13:31

When the person I live with was much younger, she lived in Minnesota. There was a huge bat colony in the attic. Her parents didn't like the bats, and tried to block all holes in the eaves, so that they couldn't get back into the house after their night's foraging. Her father worked all day to close up the holes, and then fitted a one-way vent (from a clothes dryer) to the place where they usually exited. As dusk fell, her family sat in the car with the lights turned onto the roof, and counted the bats coming out through the one-way vent. There were dozens. But the next night, the bats all came out again through the one-way flap, as they had managed to find a way back in at dawn. The Bat Wars went on for weeks, with harsher and harsher methods. At one point, the bats started coming into the house through the heating grids in the floors. No-one much liked that. The story ended badly for the bats. In an interesting side note: the bats had been in residence for decades, and their gauno had piled up in the attic. My friend’s mother, who was a keen organic gardener, was very happy with this source of free fertiliser.

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29/07/2011 at 13:32

P.S. We LOVE bats now, and see them in our garden every year. We once saw a sparrow hawk chasing a bat.