Beth Bridge is on the front line of the battle to protect Scotland’s bats.
She’s working with farmers and landowners to create the conditions which would enable these endangered mammals to thrive again.
Their numbers have been declining for decades but Beth has been looking at how to plant native trees on agricultural land so they can provide new homes for their roosts in 50 to 100 years time.
It’s an important step in preparing for a potential influx of bats from southern Europe as climate change pushes species north to cooler regions.
Bats love to set up home in the holes and crevices which appear when ancient woodlands begin to decay.
Those habitats have been disappearing for a host of reasons including agricultural intensification as well as road and house building.
Replacing them will take a long time.
Beth, a PhD research student at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), says bats’ insatiable appetite for midges mean they should be seen as a friend to anyone who spends time in the outdoors.
It’s estimated that one bat can devour as many as 3,000 midges a night.
Their reliance on insects means their prevalence is often regarded as a test of the quality of an area’s wider ecosystem.
She said: “Conserving bats is really important because not only do they indicate when the rest of nature is really happy and healthy, they also provide a really good ecosystem service in the form of eating insects and controlling their populations.
“This provides pest control for farmers in particular – but it also just helps keep the ecosystem in balance.”
Protecting and restoring nature is
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