The Bat Conservation Trust's Director of Communications Heather McFarlane explains why she'll be going batty at Halloween
All over the world bats are popping up, in supermarkets and in
pubs, hanging along school halls and peeking out of windows. Nope - this is not
a sudden population boom, the bats we see at this time of year regrettably are
mostly made of plastic.
 |
| Three cute pipistrelle bats photo - Catherine Beazley/BCT |
For those of us that already know and love our British bats
it is hard to see how such tiny, gentle and social creatures could ever have got tangled
up in such a spooky image. Our bats eat
moths and midges not bite necks and suck blood. Even more peculiar is that come
Halloween our bats will most likely be hibernating not flying around
derelict mansions.
Isn't it strange that for most of the year bats
are not at the forefront of peoples’ minds then at the time of year when they
are disappearing from our skies they are seen all around us for all the wrong
reasons.
 |
| BCT pumpkin |
So why does the Bat
Conservation Trust embrace Halloween?
While bats are not spooky they are dark and mysterious, that’s
part of their appeal, and Halloween is all about celebrating magic and mystery, so perhaps hanging up plastic bats isn't such a strange thing to do. Bats are an icon for a night time world very different to our own and there is still so much to learn
about them. Some people do find the unknown scary personally I find it thrilling,
it is what makes bats so captivating.
So if nothing else Halloween is a great time to celebrate the mystery and
beauty of bats. But for
me there are other reasons why I think the bat conservation movement should
hijack Halloween for our own ends.
Halloween is a great day for bat myth busting!
 |
| BCT Helpline |
It is often said that fears stems from misunderstandings. Here at the Bat Conservation Trust this is
where we can help! Our Bat Helpline (0845
1300 228) is there for any questions or concerns about bats and to help with
any injured bats found. In my experience people aren’t scared by plastic bats,
but it is often misheard information that sets people on edge. Not only are
bats not blood suckers, they are not going to get caught in your hair and they
won’t cost you the earth if you want to build a loft conversion, just a little
bit of planning. So at a time when
everyone is aware of bats anyway, we can insert the much needed facts and information into
the bat fiction whilst celebrating the wonder of bats at the same
time, perfect! But there is one more thing about Halloween that really means it
should be for bats.
If people are
decorating their living rooms with bats and eating bat shaped sweeties why can’t
get bats get something out of it too?
 |
| BCT's Shirley Thompson at the Whitby Goth Weekend |
If we had a £1 for every bat image used at Halloween so many
more bats could be protected! So with
this in mind we have developed a Halloween fundraising pack. Our hope is that people will download the
pack and transform their Halloween celebrations into something positive for
bats. If you are celebrating Halloween
we’re hoping you’ll go on our site, downloaded our pack full of Halloween
activities and ideas, pick up a few bat facts and do a bit of fundraising and
myth busting at the same time. To be honest using Halloween to benefits bats is nothing
new the wonderful Whitby Gothic Festival patrons and stallholders have been fundraising around Halloween for the last 15 years. They
have held raffles, bring and buys, auctions and asked for donations at the
annual festival raising over £30,000 to date!
This year we hope people all over the country will help us raise £3000
for bat conservation over Halloween.
The rest of the year we
celebrate the other side of bats; we
work with everyone from policy makers to schools to build the association
between bats and healthy environments whether they are urban parks, woodlands managed
for wildlife, or homes and buildings. Between spring and autumn we build the
image of bats darting across warm summer skies at events and in the media. We give people the chance to experience bats
first hand in the hope that they will associate bats with evenings spent bat
watching in night-scented gardens. But in October as the nights draw in and
bats head for hibernation we shift our focus, we try to spark people’s imagination,
some people will have never thought more deeply about bats than as a Halloween decoration but and we try to get a
few more people hooked on bats longer term, or at the very least give people the chance to
learn a little more about bats and their conservation needs.
So maybe next weekend I’ll be packing away the bat detector for
the year and dusting off the glittery bats wings ready for a fancy dress party (but
I certainly won’t be wearing any fangs!). And when Halloween rolls round I’ll
tell everyone about what my costume means and gently explain how we can help
out our mysterious creatures of the night all year round. So this October I hope
you all have a very Batty Halloween!
If you are interested in fundraising for the Bat Conservation Trust visit www.bats.org.uk/halloween for lots of hints and tips and to download our pack
Posts
