Connecting it all
Photograph of a hedgerow (c) - Graham Horn
Habitat loss and fragmentation is a real threat to bats so it is vital that the different habitats that bats use (for roosting and for eating) are connected. Many people don’t realise that bats use woodland edges, hedgerows, rivers and other linear features like tree-lined footpaths as corridors to commute from one area of countryside to another. So retaining, enhancing and creating features like these is important. Learn more about commuting habitats here.
In cities, green spaces, local parks and private gardens are all used by bats to move around the landscape. This means if we create opportunities for green spaces to knit together, suddenly there are stepping stones in the landscape for urban mobile species such as bats.
In Paris, a study showed that despite the low proportion of private green areas (36% of the total green areas), they still contributed up to 47.9% of bat habitat availability!
