All British bats are protected species because their numbers have been steadily declining over the past decades. This decline is due to human activity which has affected bats and the way they live. However, by taking simple measures, these declines can be reversed.

Making your garden bat friendly is one practical way to help conserve bats. Although it can never be guaranteed that bats will visit the garden by taking a few simple steps your garden will benifit all sorts of wild creatures.

British bats eat insects so one way of helping them is to ensure that they have an abundant food supply. This can be easily done by planting night scented flowers to attract night flying insects. Some suitable plants are:-

Planting scented herbs such as Chives, Borage, Lemon Balm, Majoram and Mint will also help attract insects to the garden

Many insects lay their eggs, and spend a part of their life, in water before emerging as adults. One pipistrelle bats can eat up to 3,000 of these insects every night so a pond can be a great asset to any garden designed to help bats

Even if bats are not attracted to your pond, frogs and toads, another group of animals needing help, may well be.

Details on how to build ponds can be found in many gardening books.

Hedges and rows of trees and bushes both encourage insects to provide feeding areas for bats and act as corridors along which bats fly. Gaps in hedges can disorientate bats and lead them to take different routes from their roosts to their feeding areas.

Plant hedges or plant up gaps in hedges using native trees or shrubs, these are more attractive to insects than foreign ones.

Bats naturally roost in trees but, with the reduction in natural roost sites, bat boxes can make an alternative

They are easy, and cheap, to make and put up. Full instructions can be obtained from the Bat Conservation Trust.