CONTEXT 180 : JUNE 2024 37 WHERE HERITAGE AND NATURE MEET 1 www.bats.org.uk/ advice/informationfor-places-ofworship (The BCT administers the Bat Advice Service under contract on behalf of Natural England) ² https:// batsinchurches. org.uk/ (hosted by the Churches Conservation Trust for the next five years) bat welfare issues, with bats unable to find their way out and dying within the church. Initial surveys were carried out by a professional ecologist for the project, but the solution they developed was implemented through the free Natural England Bat Advice Service1, with a volunteer bat-roost visitor supervising the ceiling repairs in line with strict criteria. The church community raised repair funds and Bats in Churches contributed money for an architect’s specification. The work secured the roost within the roof void, preventing the bats from accessing the interior but not from accessing their roost. In the 2023 survey for the National Bat Monitoring Programme, volunteers from the Leicestershire and Rutland Bat Group (who count the bats annually) recorded their largest number yet: 1,326 bats. The church has held dawn-and-dusk bat-watching events and a community roost count. Living with bats The distrust between parties with an interest in bats in churches has been addressed. A new working relationship is in place between the natural and built environments and the church locally and nationally. The human/wildlife conflict issues that can occur when bats use the interior of church buildings have been addressed and new ways of thinking formed around how we live with bats. Recently trained professional and volunteer bat workers are now engaged with churches. Ways of managing the impact of bats where they are confined to an area of a building are now understood and considered separately to places where bats impact an entire building. Where the bats’ impact is throughout a church, the new Bats in Churches Class Licence gives a more flexible approach to mitigation. A specially trained bat worker can authorise works to manage bats which, before the project, would have had a complex and lengthy permissions process. With examples in place of successful management of bat roosts, there is a wider range of creative options for churches with bats. The greatest success of the project is its crosssectoral partnership. Historic England, the Church Buildings Council, and the Diocesan Advisory Committees have come to understand what makes a good home for bats and how to provide this in a building used for worship and the community. Engagement work has seen new visitors attracted to churches because the church has bats, a big shift from a time when not using a building because of bats would have been unchallenged. The project has a strong legacy. The Bats in Churches website remains online². The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) will continue to run the Bats in Churches Challenge Badge for uniformed and other groups. The Church of England has funded a two-year post of bats in churches advisor at the BCT through its Buildings for Mission fund. This means that there will remain a point of contact for churches with bats, and resources to help churches live alongside their bats as a natural asset to bring people to church for bat walks and talks. The project’s legacy can be seen on its website, providing resources for those who care for and work with churches, in the new role of bats in churches advisor at the BCT with responsibility for administering a novel small-grants scheme, and in enhanced training for Natural England volunteer bat-roost visitors through the Bat Advice Service. St Mary Magdalene, Brampton, has a large colony of Pipistrelle bats which roost throughout the church, but especially directly over the chancel arch. Two bespoke ‘sails’ have been installed underneath the roost. They can be lowered to ground level for cleaning and should reduce the bat droppings in this area. (Photo: Bats in Churches) Diana Evans is head of places of worship, Historic England; David Knight is head of church buildings, Church of England; Sarah Robinson is director of conservation, Churches Conservation Trust; Diana Spencer is eastern region bats in churches engagement officer, Church of England; Lisa Worledge is director of conservation, Bat Conservation Trust; and Kate Jones is principal adviser and project manager, Bats in Churches, Natural England.
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