Lambourn Primary Goes Bats

March 2008

Sheepdrove Organic Farm is teaming up with Lambourn Primary to help bats. These rather mysterious, nocturnal mammals are a very important part of biodiversity. Our partnership project aims to promote bat conservation in the area, and will introduce the school children to these cute critters - face to face!

Jason Ball, who heads wildlife work here says, “The farm is an excellent place for bats, and at least 6 species thrive here. I often watch them hunting alongside our water habitats, wild margins and woodland. The high number of bats is also partly due to the farming – because organic cowpats feed lots of dung beetles, which in turn feed some of the larger species, such as Noctule bats.”

“Lambourn Primary has some excellent bat habitat too, with rough grass, gardens, hedges and mature trees with holes to roost in. Together we are going to install a chain of bat boxes all the way from the school to the farm.”

Bat boxes are just like nest boxes for birds, but slightly different designs. Bats like to squeeze into tight spaces and only need a very narrow entrance to a box. As Springtime brings us milder weather, bats will come out of hibernation and you are more and more likely to see them in the warmer evenings. Lambourn Primary will be ready to offer their local bats new places to roost and give birth to pups.

Lambourn Primary Goes Bats is the name of this project, which was made possible with a grant from the Sustainable Development Fund run by the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The grant money paid for bat boxes, membership of the Bat Conservation Trust for the school, and a bat detector, which will allow the children to hear bat ultrasound.

The Year Five class will be the school’s bat team, and they’ll have the rare chance to meet some little bats for real, as part of this project. During the summer we will host a family bat evening, surveying for bat activity in the school grounds. However we won’t disturb the boxes because bats and their roosts are protected by law.

We would love to hear from people living in Lambourn who are keen to join in. All you need to do is put a bat box in your garden and be part of the bat box chain!

How do I make a bat box? Where do I put it?

Download a DIY box design by the Bat Conservation Trust – click here.

Where can I buy a bat box?

Sheepdrove Organic Farm have already installed 40 bat boxes and our favourite supplier is Jacobi Jayne 01227 714314. They are very helpful and have an excellent online shop. They import the tough Schwegler boxes that we’ve seen succeed at the farm.

I’d like to know more about bats.

Great! Visit www.bats.org.uk for further details.

What happened next?

To find out what we've done for bats, please look at this website's section on Biodiversity.