Unconventional wall and ceiling elements made from wood-concrete residues as ideal winter accommodation for bats

Published source details Herter R. (2007) Unkonventionell aus Holzbetonresten hergestellte Wand- und Deckenelemente als ideale Winterquartierausstattung für Fledermäuse. Nyctalus: Internationale Fledermaus-Fachzeitschrift, 12, 325-330.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Create artificial caves or hibernacula for bats Action Link

Create artificial caves or hibernacula for bats

A before-and-after study in 1974–2007 in a disused former brickwork factory in Brandenburg, Germany (Herter 2007) found that artificial hibernacula were used by four bat species during at least three winters. In the three years after artificial hibernacula were installed, 35–55 bats/year of four bat species hibernated in the disused factory, compared to 5–24 bats/year of up to six bat species in the 20 years prior to hibernacula installation. The bat species recorded hibernating after artificial hibernacula were installed included greater mouse-eared Myotis myotis, Daubenton’s Myotis daubentonii, Natterer’s Myotis nattereri and brown long-eared bats Plecotus auritus. Barbastelle Barbastella barbastellus, Bechstein’s Myotis bechsteinii and grey long-eared bats Plecotus austriacus were also recorded before the hibernacula were installed. In September–October 2005, a number of hibernacula (made from a composite material of concrete and sawdust) and large hollow concrete blocks and bricks (numbers of each not reported) were hung from walls and ceilings in a tunnel (2 m high x 140 m long). Hibernating bats were monitored in the tunnel during most winters in 1974/1975–1990/1991, 1993/1994, 1994/1995, 1996/1997 and 2002/2003–2006/2007 (20 years before and three years after the hibernacula were installed).

(Summarised by: Katie Sainsbury)