Everyone
finds different ways of coping with the shorter days and colder winter weather
but some British wildlife have come up with enviable methods of getting through
the worst of this season. As species champion for the common pipistrelle bat I
have been discovering more about how this tiny creature, which weighs less than
a pound coin, copes with the harshest of winters. Their tactic is to sleep, or
rather hibernate, through the worst of the weather and start afresh when the
warm weather returns. I am sure many people would quite like to spend winter
that way!
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| Helen Hayes MP at the start of her bat walk |
A lot of my
knowledge about this tiny flying mammal comes from a bat walk I took part in
last October. The bat walk was in West Norwood Cemetery where I was lucky
enough to be accompanied by Jo Ferguson who is the Built Environment Officer
for the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) and Ian Boulton, who is the Environmental
Compliance Officer for the London Borough of Lambeth. Both of these ecologists
provided me with an array of interesting facts about these fascinating and
important animals. All 18 UK resident bat species eat insects and in
winter these are just too scarce to be a reliable source of food so all of our
bats spend the winter hibernating. Once the weather warms up enough they awake
to restart their nightly chase of flying insects again.
The common
pipistrelle, a species I am very proud to champion, is found right across the
UK including in my London constituency of Dulwich and West Norwood. It is by
far the most common bat species in the UK although its numbers are thought to
have declined dramatically throughout the 20th century. I am happy
to report that the work of the National Bat Monitoring Programme run by BCT
shows that there are some promising signs of recovery in the common pipistrelle
bat and some of the other 10 bat species they are able to monitor. Bats are a
great indicator of the quality of our environment, so these signs of
improvement should be welcomed by all of us.
Despite
being the most common bat species, it remains a mystery as to where most common
pipistrelle bats hibernate. This mystery is not restricted to the UK and
researchers in the Netherlands were surprised to find that large numbers of
pipistrelles were hibernating in the expansion gaps in the balconies of tower
blocks. Could some of Londons pipistrelles be hibernating in tall modern
buildings? I am sure with the ongoing dedication of all the passionate
volunteers involved in bat conservation we may eventually find out their secret
but for now much about their lives remains a mystery.
On my bat
walk I learned that there are steps we can all take to make cities more
welcoming for bats and other wildlife. There is growing evidence that taking
this approach is not just good for them but good for us too. Do take a look at
the BCT website (www.bats.org.uk) to find out more about bats and how to get involved in their
conservation. There are local bat groups right across the UK including the
London Bat Group.
This year I
will not only be looking forward to the warmer spring weather but will also be
keeping an eye on the night skies so I can spot a different sign of spring, the
acrobatic flights of the common pipistrelle bat.
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| Helen Hayes MP receiving her common pipistrelle poster from Kit Stoner (Joint CEO) To find out more about the Species Champion Project go to: https://www.buglife.org.uk/specieschampions/champions |
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