Celebrating International Bat Night with a bat-friendly campus

The University of Warwick's large campus provides students, staff and the surrounding community with lots of green spaces to relax, exercise and work in. It's also home to an amazing range of wildlife, for which we create, manage and maintain habitats, nesting sites and shelters to give wild animals places to feed, reproduce and hibernate.

Recently, University staff shadowed our licensed ecological consultants whilst they carried out an assessment of the more than 60 bat boxes we have on campus. The ecologists carefully checked each box for bats (or evidence of other animals using these artificial refugia), gently removing any bats for identification and record keeping. University staff looked on as the ecologists explained identifying features including differences in face shape and wing veining. We were thrilled to find quite a number of the boxes occupied, showing that our work to provide habitat and shelter is successful. The ecologists found several healthy soprano pipistrelles – the smallest bats in the UK (along with the common pipistrelle), which weigh only 3 to 8 grammes!

All UK bat species are fully protected by law, and the University is committed to helping these fascinating creatures to thrive. During walk with Warwickshire Bat Group last year, we recorded soprano pipistrelles, common pipistrelles, noctules and Daubenton's bats near the Tocil Lake.

If you are interested in bats, you can join the nationwide Bat Conservation Trust(BCT) or get involved with a local bat group, such as Warwickshire Bat Group. Both options will enable you to learn more about these amazing animals, attend events and even help with monitoring projects. What’s more, BCT’annual conference will take place at the University of Warwick in September, so this is the perfect year to get involved!