Another ‘little one’ is on its way, meanwhile, for a change, it was my turn at the hospital today. Brian kindly chauffeured me as I have vestibular n. and am unable to drive. We returned home just in time to accept the new little bat that needed help and he is now with us whilst he recuperates.

Bats are beautiful, enigmatic animals: they are our only true flying mammals and they need all the help they can get; along with all our wildlife. There are 1,400+ bat species globally, and in the UK, bats account for more than a quarter of our mammal species. Until recently, there were 18 species of bats here in the UK, sadly though, in 1990, one species, the greater mouse-eared bat, was officially declared extinct in this country.

British bats eat insects and nothing else, and as some insects such as gnats and midges can be pretty irritating on a warm summer’s evening – our lives would be miserable without bats. Some insects also cause severe damage to valuable crops and flowers; hence our bats are helpful friends and allies to many farmers and gardeners.

As with many wildlife species, bat populations of all our commoner bats have decreased dramatically over the last 60 years, and some bat species are now seriously endangered. If you can support our bats, it would be of great help.