The little-known reason Scots should love BATS and why they're a lifesaver in the garden this summer
BATS AMAZING The little-known reason Scots should love BATS and why they're a lifesaver in the garden this summer
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KING Charles is to provide a new home for bats at his Scottish mansion so work can go ahead.
Surveys found evidence of potential roosting sites after he applied for permission to build a luxury wedding venue in Dumfries House near Cumnock, Ayrshire, where bat boxes have now been installed in the grounds of the A-listed building.
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The common pipistrelle is having to fight for survival.
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A cloud of dreaded midges, that can blight any summer event.
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Dr Joe Nunez-Mino is one of the UK's top bat experts.
But The King isn't the only one to be left in a flap over bats with a £100million 'bat tunnel' also constructed for the controversial HS2 rail line in Buckinghamshire.
Chief Features Writer MATT BENDORIS speaks to a top conservationist about why we need to help these nocturnal flying mammals.
DOCTOR Joe Nunez-Mino has many reasons why a thriving bat population is good for the environment but one should endear them to Scots more than others - their voracious appetite for midges.
As the biting insects continue to cause havoc at family barbecues and day-trips this summer, the one thing helping to keep them at bay are Scotland's airborne mammals.
And Dr Joe from the Bat Conservation Trust insists that our nine species of resident bats help in many other ways too.
He said: 'We can only estimate but we do know bats eat a lot of insects, each individual bat eating hundreds or even thousands (of midges) every night.
'Different bat species specialise in eating different insects, from biting insects like midges through to moths, including some insects that damage crops and gardens.
'To give one example, a study published last year estimated that bats in apple orchards reduce the total weight of apples damaged by codling moths by 50 per cent.'
In the UK all bat species and their roosts are legally protected by both European legislation and domestic laws including Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations (2017).
But since the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 it has been a criminal offence to disturb a structure or place bats use for shelter or protection.
'He is spooked' - Moment The Open commentator hides under his jacket as BAT invades broadcasting booth at Portrush
It means DIY and commercial builders have to carry out expensive bat surveys costing several thousands - or more if the mammals are found and need to be removed.
Dr Joe said: 'There is a cost associated with protecting the environment just like there is with health and safety or protecting historical heritage.
'While we as an organisation don't have any control or influence on the costs of bat surveys, we have worked with some Statutory Nature Conservation Organisations (SNCO) to streamline the process where possible.
'To avoid delays, it's important to take bats into account from the earliest stages of planning work.'
He adds: 'Having a bat roost does not prevent developing a property, bats just need to be taken into account as part of the process. Householders should seek advice from their SNCO.'
However Dr Joe believes that bats get a bad press including the 1km long bat tunnel in Buckinghamshire that added an extra £100million to the runaway cost of the HS2 rail line.
He said: 'We were not involved in the process. However, we do know that multiple cross-party inquiries have found that HS2's delays and cost overruns stem from mismanagement, not nature protections.
'HS2 did not carry out a timely strategic environmental assessment which could have identified viable alternatives that could have avoided significant expenditure and delay.'
While in 2002 Scottish wildlife artist David McRae, 56, from Tayside, died from rabies after being bitten by a bat - it was the first case of indigenous rabies in the UK in 100 years.
Dr Joe said: 'Two rabies-related viruses have been detected in two bat species in the UK and in only a very small number of individuals.
'If someone is bitten, licked, nipped or scratched by a bat they should wash and disinfect the area and urgently seek medical treatment.
'The NHS has said prompt post-exposure vaccinations have been 100 per cent effective in preventing the disease.'
But Dr Joe believes that work done by organisations like his and the stringent laws are helping bats, which have been in decline, to slowly make a recovery.
BATS HAVE DELAYED HOUSE DEMOLITION BUT I STILL WANT TO PROTECT THEM
LAST March my wife and I bought an uninhabitable bungalow on Scotland's West Coast and wanted to pull it down before it fell down and replace it with a shiny new build.
But 16 months on there hasn't even been a spade in the ground because late on in the planning process it was suddenly announced we needed a bat survey.
The problem was by the time we were informed last year, the flying mammals would be hibernating for the winter and a dusk survey - with infrared cameras and sound equipment - couldn't be carried out until the spring.
In the end we didn't have any roosting bats, but it has added a £1,800 bill to the project we hadn't budgeted for.
Someone else in the area wasn't so lucky and it cost them £5,000 to have their bats removed by an ecologist.
But surely with all the technology now available there has to be a quicker - and far cheaper - way of checking where they are roosting, so people can get on with their projects?
And when I do finally get my new house built any neighbourhood bats are more than welcome to come and live rent free.
He explains: 'All bat species have suffered historical declines in population numbers but we have seen signs of initial recovery in some species.
'We are currently able to monitor five of the nine resident bat species in Scotland through the National Bat Monitoring Program.
'Of these five, four species - Daubenton's bat, Natterer's bat, common pipistrelle and brown long-eared bat - show no significant change since the base line year of 1999 and one species has increased - soprano pipistrelle.
'Bat conservation is important because they are a vital part of our natural heritage which make up around a quarter of our mammal species and they also play a critical role in the ecosystem.
'There is very good evidence that bat populations help to reduce the need for pesticides which ultimately harms the health of other wildlife and people too.'
He adds: 'Scotland would have a lot more midges and other insects without them.'
*For more information on the Bat Conservation Trust visit bats.org.uk
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Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Eight super simple Middle Eastern recipes from Sunday Brunch chef Sabrina Ghayour
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NOW BUY THE BOOK Our recipes are taken from Persiana Easy by Sabrina Ghayour, with photographs by Kris Kirkham (Mitchell Beazley, £28, published on 14 August). To pre-order a copy for £23.80, go to or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over £25.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- The Herald Scotland
Bequest helps museum continue legacy in centenary year
The bequest will also be used to enhance and promote the Galleries and collections in years to come. While Ms Hubbard was born in Morningside, Edinburgh, in 1926, she grew up in Wemyssfield, [[Kirkcaldy]]. She went to Seaview Private School in the town and it was here that her passion for learning was nurtured. She developed a love for the arts and would spend a lot of time in the town's museum and art gallery with her parents. As it happens, the Galleries came into being as the result of another donation. When plans were being prepared for a war memorial to commemorate the soldiers who had died in World War One, local industrialist John Nairn donated further funding for it to be extended to include the creation of a gallery in memory of his only son, Ian, who died in France shortly before the armistice. Read More Argyll museum wins prestigious award after redevelopment success By coincidence, Ms Hubbard's father, Harry Hubbard, who was an architect in Kirkcaldy, was involved in drawing up the plans for the town's World War Two memorial. After leaving school, most of her working life was as a librarian at what was then [[Kirkcaldy]] Technical College, later to become Fife College. She never married and was known for giving many donations to worthy local causes. When she died in 2015, she left most of her estate 'for the benefit of Kirkcaldy Galleries.' Chris McLean, OnFife's Museum and Heritage Service Team Leader, explained: 'It took some time to settle Jean's estate, and it was not until 2023 that we began discussing how it should be used. 'We were very mindful of her wish that it be used for the benefit of Kirkcaldy and the Galleries, and with the Galleries' 100th anniversary coming up, along with the commemoration of the war memorial, which had also been given to the town and which her father had been closely involved in, it all tied in together and we started thinking about how to put this idea into action. Some of the money was used to purchase a piece of pottery, called the Referendum Teapot, by Scottish artist Susan McGill (Image: Supplied) 'With the centenary celebrations we wanted to be able to concentrate specifically on a special exhibition and other events around that, and we decided to create a temporary Project Curator post for a year to help do that. 'It was taken up on a job-share basis by two of our current team members, Jane Freel and Janice Crane, who have worked extremely hard with our Collections Development Manager, Nicola Wilson, and our Kirkcaldy Galleries' team to pull together all the activities around the KG100 events and exhibition.' Sadly, there are no paintings or photographs of Jean Hubbard but she is acknowledged in the A Century of Kirkcaldy Galleries exhibition that her bequest made possible. Some of the money was used to purchase a piece of pottery, called the Referendum Teapot, by Scottish artist Susan McGill. It was made to mark the Scottish independence referendum and reflects the thoughts and feelings of people at the time. The bequest has also been used to work with local groups such as the Beehive Nursery, with visits to the Galleries producing a wealth of animal-themed artwork for display in the art space, and with the Sewing Circle, which put together a banner illustrating 100 years of the Galleries in Kirkcaldy. With funding from Museums and Galleries Scotland, OnFife has also worked with The Hive, where young people from the LGBT+ community created a Pride banner which is on display in the centenary exhibition. And staff from OnFife worked alongside the Royal British Legion Scotland's Kirkcaldy branch to link the commemoration of 100 years of the War Memorial with the Galleries' centenary celebrations, including bringing Bud, Poppy Scotland's interactive touring exhibition to a Big Birthday Bash celebration in June, and culminating in a visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla in July 'We are very grateful to Jean Hubbard for her generosity which has enabled us to do a huge amount to celebrate the centenary and put the Galleries in the spotlight with displays and exhibitions,' said Chris McLean. 'From its very beginnings, the support of benefactors has enabled Kirkcaldy Galleries to become one of the best gallery spaces in Scotland and Jean Hubbard has continued that tradition, all to the benefit of the people of Kirkcaldy.' For more details of the centenary celebrations visit the KG100 page at
Times
a day ago
- Times
How the UK's rarest bat species are staging a comeback
In a dark network of tunnels in West Sussex you'll find a pair of greater mouse-eared bats. By all rights, these large bats shouldn't be there. One of 18 bat species found in the UK, the greater mouse-eared was thought to have been pushed to extinction in Britain during the 1980s. However, one male was found in the disused railway tunnels in 2002, leading him to be called the UK's loneliest bat. Assuming he was still alive — they can live for 35 years — he became a bit less lonely when a second was spotted and the known population doubled. In January it became practically a party, when conservationists were delighted to find a third at an undisclosed location in Sussex. Even better, it was an adult breeding female. In ecologists' parlance, the foothold is still so fragile that the greater mouse-eared is considered a 'vagrant' rather than a 'resident' British species. However, Daniel Whitby, a bat conservationist, said the third offered huge hope. 'It does indicate some tiny residual population that could have clung on, just a few individuals, and there could be something here,' he said. The greater mouse-eared is one of several bats showing potential to become that most critically endangered of species: a conservation good news story. Not all of the 18 bat species are monitored well enough to tell how they are doing. But for those that are, the populations of five have increased since 1999, and six remained stable. Just last week there was welcome news for the second-rarest species, the grey long-eared bat. Down to about a thousand individuals nationally, the droppings of one was found in Kent, the first evidence of the species in the county for four decades. However, the bat may simply have been a migrant that strayed over from Sussex, which Whitby said would not be surprising given the males of the species are known to wander far. 'What would be really interesting, a real success story, is if it's a breeding colony [in Kent],' he said. The health of the grey long-eared is far from a tale of unalloyed happiness. In recent years the only known breeding colony in Sussex, in the Petworth area, was destroyed by builders. 'The [Sussex] population, if anything, has probably gone down,' Whitby said. Some rare species have benefited from a helping hand. The greater horseshoe, which is about the size of a small pear and whose numbers crashed 90 per cent in the last 100 years, declined largely owing to timber insecticide treatments wiping out its food. However, there are about 13,000 today, up from a low of roughly 4,000 in the 1980s. Their stronghold is southwest England and south Wales but, aided by projects such as Vincent Wildlife Trust's Horseshoes Heading East, their numbers are growing further east too. Though there have always been some in Sussex, in the past 14 years Whitby and other experts including Scotty Dodd discovered several roosts in the county. In some cases they installed heaters, or incubators, to increase the chances of healthy pups being born. Strict planning laws, habitat protection, bat-friendly modifications to buildings and a reduction in the use of toxic chemicals are aiding bats too. Ryan Greaves runs bat safaris at the Knepp estate in West Sussex, where rewilding efforts have increased the number of species from five to 13, including rare Bechstein's bat and barbastelles. He was part of a project with the Sussex Bat Group that bought up a building home to greater horseshoes in the village of Lodsworth, to save it from being sold off for development or knocked down. Volunteers at Vincent Wildlife Trust making roosting boxes and pots to go inside DANIEL HARGREAVES DANIEL HARGREAVES • Why the Knepp rewilding project is truly magical Bats are harder to detect, monitor and count than birds, but technology is helping. Whitby used ultrasonic lures to call Bechstein's bats for the first national survey of the species two decades ago, discovering seven colonies in one summer. A citizen science project in Chichester used detectors in people's gardens to detect the ultrasonic chattering of rare bat visitors. The nascent recoveries of some bat species are still tentative: 4 of 11 native British mammals at the most imminent risk of extinction are bats. And a bat renaissance is far from a foregone conclusion, with ministers accused of being 'nasty' to them with Labour's planning reforms and rhetoric about HS2's £100 million 'bat tunnel '. But there is hope that our bats may be a little less lonely in the future.
