How To Make Your Garden Bat Friendly

Spotting a bat in flight as the day turns to dusk can be a rare but magical sight, especially if it is in your own garden. There are 18 different species of bats in the UK, but the most common one that you are more likely to see in your garden is the Pipistrelle bat. They are, however, unfortunately becoming increasingly rare in the UK and their numbers are in decline. We can help change this by implementing a few simple ideas that will attract bats to your garden. If you want to find out if you already have bats nearby, you could always have a bat survey carried out.  

Create A Pond

Bats will feed on invertebrates and insects, and one pipistrelle could eat as many as 3000 insects in one night. By creating a pond in your back garden, you will be attracting a number of invertebrates into your garden, and a pond full of insects is a great way to attract bats. 

It doesn’t have to be a large pond, and if you don’t have room for one, even a small water feature will help. Perhaps you can use an old butler sink or half a barrel filled with water. Any water will help attract insects to your garden, which in turn will attract the bats. 

An ideal place for a pond is in the sunshine and away from trees. The last thing you want is leaves from the tree falling into the pond come autumn time. 

Remember if you are adding in a pond that it is important to have a shallower end, or some rocks leading out of one end so that creatures such as frogs and newts can get out of the pond easily. Stock your pond with plants that will oxygenate the water such as curled pondweed, and also have plants that will emerge out of the water such as flowering rush. These are important for attracting dragonflies to the water, which are another great food source for bats.

Plant Night-Scented Flowers

Another great way to attract insects to your garden is by planting night-scented flowers. These can attract moths and other night-flying insects that bats can feed on. They will also make your garden smell lovely in the evening, so it’s a bonus for you too. Plants such as scented herbs, European honeysuckle, and night-scented stocks will be a perfect addition. 

You can also create a rockery in your garden if you haven’t already got one. Once mosses and lichens start to form on your rockery, they will attract invertebrates that, as we know, the bats will feed on, and this will give them another reason to keep returning to your garden. The more insects the better.

Build A Bat Box

If you want to attract bats to your garden, it is important that they have somewhere they can call home. Just as we might have a birdhouse in our garden to shelter the birds, having a bat box in our garden will offer shelter to the bats. You can buy a bat box or even build one yourself. It offers somewhere for them to ‘hang out’ in the daytime, so to speak. It’s a safe place for them to roost, and to raise their pups too.

Whether you have bought one or built it yourself, it is important to hang the bat box in the right place. The side of a building or on a pole is preferable over a tree. Hanging them on a tree leaves them susceptible to predators and it also offers too much shade. Bats also need height to drop down before they catch flight, so it is vital that their home is at least 15 feet in height. This means they are not susceptible to predators on the ground before they are able to take flight. Bats also prefer narrow, tight spaces so don’t make the place too spacious for them. They don’t need the room for nesting materials unlike birds, they just need a rough surface inside that they can catch their claws on. Bats also prefer a slightly warmer climate, so it’s a bonus if you can have the bat box facing south or southeast so that the bat box can start to warm up as the sun rises. 

Once your bat box is in place, it is important to check it regularly. Make sure that rain is not getting in, and that no wasps or bees have taken up residence instead. You will soon learn if bats have taken to living in your bat box if you start to see bat droppings around.

Make Your Home Secure

When you know that bats are frequent visitors to your garden and you get to start enjoying watching them flit about above your garden in the evenings, it is also important to make sure they then cannot get into your house. Make sure any small holes or openings are filled in. Whilst they are lovely to see in your garden bat box, you don’t want them living in the loft! If they do get into your house, you will have to call a professional for assistance. Don’t forget that all bats are protected and should never be disturbed.

Bat Surveys

Because bats are a protected species, it’s vital that their presence is noted if a site or garden is being developed. Companies like BatSurveys can help determine whether or not you might have bats close by, and whether it will affect planning permission being granted. If you do spot any signs of bats before developing a site, have a bat survey carried out.

To sum up, you can attract bats to your garden much like you would attract other wildlife to your garden. By attracting insects and invertebrates to your garden through the planting of suitable plants and introducing things like a rockery and a pond, you are providing a great feeding ground for bats. Once bats have established your garden as a suitable place to visit, installing a bat box will help encourage them to mate, and you will be actively helping the continuation of the species.