Our new bat box.

Our 6 year daughter Ellen, asked santa for a bat box this year. What a great idea! Happy to encourage this interest she got an IOU bat box, and coincidentally a tool kit from Granny and Grandad, so in the new year she and I set to work making one from 2cm thick rough-sawn and untreated Scottish Larch. It is roughly based on the kent bat box but only has one internal compartment or pocket. The pocket where the bats will sleep is 2cm deep, 15cm wide by 33cm high. These dimensions are consistent with guidelines from respected UK sources such as the Bat Conservation Trust, but it should be mentioned that american organisations such as the Organisation for Bat Conservation advocate much wider and higher boxes. The design of our bat box means it should be self cleaning as there is no bottom and it is the same depth throughout the pocket. The width of the pocket entrance is critical to prevent predators entering the box. We covered the joined sections of wood with strips of plywood just to be extra sure that there are no draughts or leaks and added a sloping roof of roofing felt on top of the internal flat roof to make it doubly water-tight, and painted it externally to make it more weathertight and because it was a fun thing to do with Ellen. The bat on the front was just for fun. We have yet to place it but have selected a tree in the nearby woods that will allow it to be sited 5m off the ground in sunshine and with clear access that faces a line of gardens, including ours, and shrubbery that we have noticed is a flight path for bats. I am looking forward to seeing if bats take up residence and using a bat detector to listen to them as they fly over our garden. Contact us if you want us to make you a bat box.