Bats in the Roof

A few years ago, we noticed there were bats coming out of a hole in the fascia under the eaves of our house. At first, I was a bit concerned because I’d heard they were destructive little creatures, but as it turned out they weren’t actually in the roof at all – they’re wedged in the void between the fascia and the wall behind it.

Some species of bat are protected, so in an effort to find out some more about them, we got a bat woman in. Not the actual Batwoman, of course – she isn’t real – but a woman from a bat protection charity. She told us they were pipistrelles, not the most uncommon and currently with an improving population, after a few decades of decline. They’re tiny little things, weighing around just 5g, but when in flight seem much larger presumably due to their wingspan.

We also found out that they were using our roof as a nursery, with the mothers arriving in May/June, having their young, then moving out again in September/October – returning each year, which true enough they have done. We wondered if a large local tree that had been (then) recently cut down was their previous home, as we’d often see bats come dusk, but not so much in our garden. We’ve counted over a hundred coming out of the hole in a single evening, and they can’t have more than a couple of feet by a few inches diameter to live in so it’s just as well they’re so small.

The other night I was in the loft and heard, as I often do at this time of year in the evening if I happen to be up there, their chittering as they were getting ready to go out for the night. I went over to the wall where they live, and was disappointed to find they’re now getting into the actual roof as evidenced by the pile of bat poo up against the wall. Looking round the loft, however, I realised they weren’t actually anywhere else, so are obviously happy to remain in the eaves. Since there’s a small gap, I tried to film in it. Unfortunately it was too tight to get a proper shot, but you can hear them chittering away, and if you look carefully, you can see one scurry out of the light at about 48 seconds in.

Apologies for committing the 11th deadly sin (filming in portrait) but there was no other way I could get my phone camera in the hole!

We like having the bats up there. We had bees last year too – in another hole further along the roof, which we also enjoyed accommodating (even if it did make keeping the windows near the nest closed during the worst heat ever a right pain). When I tell people we have bats they’re often horrified that we’d want to keep them. They’re very misunderstood, and they keep the midge population down.

The problem now is that we have holes in the fascias, which are really in need of replacement, but we don’t want to stop the bats coming back each year, meaning we’ll need to get some sort of bat box or make a hole in the new fascia in order to continue providing a home for them!

Featured image is from here.