Let’s protect bats this Halloween!

This Halloween, let’s start a new tradition celebrating our incredible night-time heroes - bats! While bat decorations are popular during this time of year, real bats are often overlooked despite the crucial role they play in protecting our environment.

By sharing your love for bats or donating some of your trick-or-treat funds to support bat conservation, you can help protect these awesome animals who do us all so much good.

Bats are an essential part of our world, and there are simple ways we can give back to them this season. Let’s explore how bats help us and how we can return the favour.

Did you know that bats are eco-system engineers? This means that they shape their environment in ways that benefit other plants and animals, including humans. In the UK, bats are natural insect controllers, consuming thousands of midges, gnats, and crop-damaging insects. Without bats, farmers would need to use more harmful pesticides, raising costs and posing risks to our health.

Did you also know that bats help ensure we have ingredients like sugar and nuts? Find out more about bats and food.

Bats also thrive in environments that benefit people - clean air, green spaces, and fresh water. Protecting these spaces for bats improves human health and well-being, as spending time in nature boosts both mental and physical health. When we protect bats, we’re also preserving healthy environments for ourselves.

Bats have even contributed to scientific discoveries that benefit humans. Their long lives and ability to remain healthy have inspired research on aging and immune function, helping scientists make breakthroughs that could lead to advances in medicine.

One in every three UK mammal species is a bat, but they face numerous challenges, including habitat loss and pollution. We work to protect these incredible animals and their habitats.

Bats aren’t just in the countryside, some species also inhabit urban areas, living in places like city buildings or under village bridges. Unfortunately, as urban development expands, bat populations are under increasing threat. So we work with developers, architects and farmers (and many others) to create bat-friendly places.

From preserving woodlands to designing bat-friendly buildings, from tackling issues like artificial lighting and bat-related crime, we work to ensure bats have a safe place to live.

This Halloween, let’s celebrate bats by making our festivities bat-friendly. If you can donate towards our Halloween appeal that would be fantastic!

You can donate part of your ‘trick or treat’ candy money, organise a bat-themed bake sale or a symbolic ‘entry charge’ for your Halloween party. Every donation counts, whether is £5 or £50!

But there are other fun and easy ways to help bats this season:

Turn off your garden lights

Bats need darkness to hunt. During October, some bats are still active, eating as much as they can to prepare for hibernation. Turning off outdoor lights helps them find their dinner.

Share a bat fact

Spread the word about how bats help us! Share bat facts with family, friends, or on social media. You can find some sharable facts in this Google Drive folder.

Post your bat costume

Let others know how incredible bats are! If you’re dressing up as a bat, share your costume online and tag us - our social media links are at the bottom of this page.

Whether you donate, raise awareness, or just turn off your garden lights, you’ll be helping bats thrive. Together, we can protect these incredible creatures.