Going Bats with Lambourn Primary School

Sheepdrove Organic Farm has teamed up with Lambourn Primary to help bats. These rather mysterious mammals are a very important part of biodiversity. Our partnership project aims to promote bat conservation in the area, and was made possible with a grant from the North Wessex Downs AONB Sustainable Development Fund.

We began the project by introducing the school children to these cute critters - face to face! Local bat expert David Endacott brought 3 species of bats to meet the children: a Soprano Pipistrelle, a Noctule called Belinda, and a Brown Long-eared bat named Leo.

The students were amazed by these tiny mammals! The children listened to them using a bat detector, and dicovered a lot about how they live. Later we went out into the school grounds to learn about how bats will use the different habitats, and helped to install 7 bat boxes at the school - and took a walk to the farm to see habitats here, and to think about where to put even more boxes. 

Some quotes from pupils:

• "I liked meeting all the bats. It was really interesting."
• "I liked it when Belinda crawled into the box."
• "It was awesome!"
• "It was amazing!"
• "I learned a lot. Did you know baby bats weigh just 1 gram?"

 

Peter Shelton, the Head Teacher at Lambourn Primary, said, “The excitement of the project is wonderful to see. The bats have inspired the children in their work. They have achieved some excellent research on bats and produced some outstanding work.” “This is the start of several months work looking at bats in our locality. We hope the project will blossom into something that will involve our school children for several years, and keep the children interested in conservation for many years to come.”

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. They have now joined the Bat Conservation Trust and will receive an activity pack about bats. 

What next?

The Year Five class will be the school’s bat team, who will survey for bat activity in the school grounds. However they won’t disturb the boxes because bats and their roosts are protected by law. During the summer we will host a family bat evening at the farm.

Help us make a bat box chain!

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! Let's link bat habitats around the village.

Also, please look out for bats flying above your garden, and send your sightings to the school. They can collect the information together for their bat project, and map out bat activity around the village.

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.