October seems the ideal time to celebrate bats as our rewilding species of the month. They will soon be emerging in window displays of Halloween bat bunting and, if you’re lucky, your local bakers may even be serving gingerbread bats. Extended nights can also mean you’re more likely to spot a bat in the wild seeking out their hibernation site. That said, bats are much more active earlier in the year. Anyone set on bat spotting, would do better to head to a bat habitat at sunset or sunrise in the summer months.

Summer for us all is now just a distant memory. Tequilas and mango smoothies by the pool have given way to that strong cup of coffee, essential to getting you going on a dark damp morning.  Yet what many don’t realise is that these favourite holiday tipples rely on bats. Even your morning fix may be benefiting from the role bats play in coffee plantation ecology by providing natural ‘pest’ control. So you don’t need to be a goth girl on Halloween to fall in love with these little mammals! Bats are brilliant all year round because there’s so much more to the species than vampire castles and witches’ brews.

The Rachel Reeves Bat-lash

In terms of UK wildlife conservation, bats were highlighted at the start of 2025 when they were name-checked by chancellor Rachel Reeves as a barrier to economic progress. In her lengthy pro-growth speech, she commented that developers ‘would not have to worry about bats and newts.’ This caused wildlife campaigners across the country to fly to their defence. 

I’m sure I’m not the first to have noticed that the two species referenced in her speech also provide key ingredients to the witches’ potion in Macbeth. Perhaps Reeves thought the negative connotations would allow her to get away with dismissing the significance of nature protections. It would have seemed a harder sell to discount a more classically charismatic species such as dormice and otters. However, unlike Shakespeare’s ‘weird sisters’, Reeves could not look into the future. She had no idea that she would galvanise the forces of ‘Team Bat, Team Newt’ on social media. It also provided ample opportunity for some of our favourite campaign groups to furnish the chancellor with facts on why we should care about nature and the flaws in setting up nature as a rival to success.

Bigging Up Our Bats

Occupying the liminal places of darkness, in many parts of the world bats are misunderstood. They have become synonymous with those elements of nature that some people fear: the deep dark caves, wild woodlands, and abandoned buildings where we dare not tread at nightfall. It is in such places that monsters may lurk. Maybe that’s why bats have been linked to vampires – even though the vampire legends of the European middle-ages pre-date the discovery of actual vampire bats which were found in South and Central America in the 16^thCentury.  In fact, vampire bats make up only 3 of the 1,400 species of bat. We really are mistaken if we think that bats suck!

In contrast to the European narrative on bats, Chinese symbolism is far closer to the mark. In China, the bat represents good fortune, prosperity and longevity and scientific research into bats certainly seems to be evidencing this. All across the world, bats play a vital role in the success of farmers as they are crucial to food production. They contribute to soil fertility, pollination, and seed dispersal, as well as reducing the need for pesticides. And if you want to ask for more than just the millions of pounds saved through these ecosystem services, the regenerating ability of bats may even hold the secret to a future cure for cancer!

bats and The secret of success

Fortune therefore favours those who do not fear the bat. Take Bacardi as an example. This family-owned company are currently number three on the  Drinks Company Rich List and they may well have bats to thank for their success.  When Doña Amalia Bacardi discovered hundreds of fruit bats in the rafters of the distillery, the family decided not to worry about the bats but to let them settle there. In return, the bats pollinated their sugarcane and fed upon the sugarcane destroying insects. Locals flocked to buy their “el ron del murciélago” or rum of the bat (which is why Bacardi has a bat as their logo).  This is not an isolated story. In his book, ‘The Secret Life of Bats’ Merlin Turtle has many more examples of individuals and communities who learned to love bats and saw prosperity follow investment into their protection.

Breaking Bat Habitats.

But despite all the ecosystem services that bats provide, we are failing to return the favour.  Their international conservation status is poor and, here in the UK, the Bat Conservation Trust has found that “4 of the 11 British mammal species which are red listed as being at risk of national extinction are bats”. The main cause of their decline has been the loss of insects, together with pressures on their habitat, whether that be the chainsaw, the bulldozer or just poor woodland management. Our negative impact on bat populations is nothing new. A recent study looked at historic declines of bats. It showed that one of our woodland specialist species, the barbastelle, declined by 99% over the last 500 years. This began with the felling of trees in the pursuit of power and economic growth through colonial shipbuilding. Maybe it’s time we humans reassess our priorities?

Bats have a huge appetite for insects and they need different types of roosting spots at different stages of the year. The success of native bats is therefore tied to the intactness of UK nature. This makes bats a key indicator species. Government bodies use the presence of bats to assess how well we are progressing to meet internationally agreed biodiversity targets. As we begin to understand the fragile balance of nature and the biodiversity crisis, it could be said that there is far more to fear from not seeing a bat than seeing one.

GOING WILD FOR BatS

It’s not all bad news for the bat though. A greater understanding of bats and the resulting conservation efforts has seen their populations beginning to show signs of recovery. This includes positive trends here in the UK, largely due to the legal protections currently afforded to bats. It is illegal to damage, destroy or disturb bats or their roost sites. UK protections and guidance also extends to forestry and woodland management practices.

Trees are essential to three-quarters of UK bat species. They provide protection from predators as well as a place to forage for insects, a place to perch, and a place to roost. The sort of standing dead wood found in intact broadleaf woodland is particularly important. Bats will roost in cracks and splits as well as used woodpecker holes. They may also hibernate in the hollow trunks of mature trees. Woodland edges, as well as hedgerows, also help with navigation as they provide structures for echolocation calls to bounce off. 

Another hope for bat population recovery lies with rewilding. The Knepp Estate, which moved away from intensive farmland to become a huge rewilding project, has 13 out of our 17 bat species at its site. This includes incredibly rare species such as the tree-dwelling Bechstein Bat, discovered to be breeding at Knepp in 2018. Knepp puts the success of bats on their estate down to the lack of pesticides, the abundance of nectar sources, river restoration, and their tree and hedgerow management model.  

Beavers and bats

Bats are also booming where there are beavers. The activity of barbastella bats was found to be 393% higher where there were beavers when compared to wetland sites where beavers had not been introduced. Following research carried out by the UWE Bristol, the study’s lead author Jack Hooker commented: “The management of wetland networks is critical for the conservation of bat populations. Previously, human interventions have been attempted to restore these ecosystems, but beavers are proving to be a more successful nature-based solution.”

Batting for Team Bat

Bats need a range of habitats in which to survive, as well as a range of insects to feed upon. Rewilding ensures this.  Reintroductions, reforestation, hedgerow restoration, healthy wetland management and river rewiggling in rural areas can help our bats to thrive. Urban rewilding has a part to play too. We can leave some ‘messy’ spaces in allotments and parks and create connectivity through bat friendly gardens. With the unknowns of climate change, the increase in light pollution, and the posturing of politicians, whatever we can do to help bats matters. Foremost in all of this is to become an ambassador for our brilliant bats. After all that scientists have shown us about the importance of bats it should become our mantra that bats are for life (not just for Halloween).