The growing season is well under way. That change from spring flowers to summer is an exciting time with the return of the pollinators that have slept over winter. It’s a sign of new life and without them our world and we as people could not exist.
Now is a good time to look to our skies not only for our beautiful birds but for a gardener’s best pest controller, the humble bat. Sadly bats are persecuted and given bad press thanks to those vampire films we all watched as children. They are thought of as evil pests that will get tangled in your hair. It couldn’t be further from the truth.
Bats are very social animals that support each other and nurture their young in roosts. They keep their young close and teach them how to feed ‘on the wing’ in flight. We could learn a lot from them.
Their roosts are clean as they use them to rest and clean themselves. They don’t eat in the roost and cause no damage or carry any diseases in this country. Each bat can eat up to 3000 insects every night which for gardeners is a huge support as they don’t need to use harmful chemicals. Some farmers and commercial nurseries install bat boxes as a form of eco pest control.
They use sonar to navigate and create complex rhythms to communicate with each other and to avoid collision. Our most common bats are pipistrelle of which there are three types. There are also brown long eared bats which are so clever. They tuck their ears behind them or under their wings in the roost then they pop up when they come out to feed.
We plan to do some bat detecting in the church grounds on Thursday 2nd June and Wednesday 6th July at 2200hrs, weather permitting.
There are many jobs to do in the church wildlife garden and volunteers to help would be much appreciated. We would like to freshen up the paint on the noticeboard, pallet etc. The trees overhanging the shed require pruning. We also hope to take delivery of wooden seating, in a few weeks, to enjoy the garden, courtesy of the Bothwell and Uddingston Men’s Shed.
So here’s to a very productive and beautiful summer.
