Attract Microbats - Install a Bat House!
|
Installing a backyard bat roost box is a great way to demonstrate your commitment to nature. And your bat-tenants will pay you back with some wonderful benefits!
Microbats are essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems as many eat huge amounts of insects, including farm pests and many of the nasty bugs that harass outdoor gatherings. You'll also enjoy learning more about bats as you watch them come and go from the home you provided. And homes are often in short supply for bats. Their populations are declining around the world, often because of disappearing habitat. We recommend people build multi-chamber boxes according to one of the two Bat Conservation International designs (multi-chamber bat box, or rocket box) or the Kent bat box design. Multi-chamber boxes provide bats with at least some variation in micro-climate between chambers. The Kent boxes are the easiest to make, and show that you can use pretty much whatever second-hand timber you’ve got lying around. Further guidance on building a bat box is provided in the attached sections of the BCI bat house builder’s handbook. Once you have the bat box built make sure you check out our Boxes for Bats factsheet for advice on how and where to place your new bat box on your property! |
|
