Bat populations in the UK saw a significant decline in the 20th century, with some of the country's 18 species - such as the
Barbastelle and Greater Horseshoe bat - now exceedingly rare.
However, specific requirements as regards places of shelter and concealment have thus far ensured that the protective measure in question does little or nothing to improve habitat for
barbastelle bats.
As well as the beavers, there has been an increased number of bats around the enclosure, including rare species such as
barbastelle and greater horseshoe.
One species we have been able to detect more easily is the
barbastelle. Rarely recorded in Wales during the 1980s and 1990s, they are now known to be widespread here, although they are still regarded as one of our rarest bats.
Around the turn of the millennium, I discovered one of the largest colonies of
barbastelle bats in the world.
The Warwickshire
Barbastelle Project is now on Facebook in a bid to give people a better understanding of the ecology of the bat.
Western
barbastelle bats in Europe typically ping out echolocation calls softly enough to locate a moth for dinner before the moth hears the predators coming, says Holger Goerlitz of the University of Bristol in England.
Holger Goerlitz of the University of Bristol in England said that western
barbastelle bats in Europe typically ping out their echolocation calls softly enough to locate a moth for dinner before the moth hears them coming.
The
barbastelle bat Barbastella barbastellus (Schreber, 1774) is regarded as one of the most endangered bat species in Europe.
The bat was captured by a university researcher looking for another rare British bat, the
barbastelle, in the area.
It was found during the project set up to study another rare bat, the
barbastelle.