# Bats in the belfrey



## maidentales (Mar 29, 2010)

We are extremely fortunate to have a property in what could be one of the most wildlife enriched areas of Portugal.

For instance, we are inundated with thousands of fireflies in the summer and have bats in the belfrey, so to speak and even in the barn.

My concern is that, if we try to disturb an unaccessible roof that has a community of bats, that we will cause some difficulties to them and conservation for the bats is my concern.

The question is, would I have to go, say, to the Camera to get permission to change some tiles in that particular roof given the bat population I know is in there? 

I cannot see them actually roosting as there's no access but I've seen them flying in and out of the rafters although I don't know how many are there.

There isn't any major work going to be done on the roof - I'm thinking more along the lines if there is any structural damage, say, from a storm, to any of the roof tiles, would I just pop up and change the tiles in question or would that disturb the bats and loose them their home?

Perhaps some Members would like to share their "batty" experiences?

Related reading not specifically all for Portugal but interesting none the less if that's your cup of tea:

Bats and the Law - Bat Conservation Trust

http://www.lbp.org.uk/downloads/Publications/SpeciesInfo/NE_EU_bats.pdf

Ano do Morcego 2011-2012 em Portugal | Wix.com

We have an outhouse where one bat likes to occasionally roost that we use to keep in it a washing machine and tools and we've also had one fly in through an open window and land on a door inside the house!! It was a really lovely bat too.

As I realised these could be protected and I didn't want to handle the bat and anyway as it looked like it could have caused me some personal damage I found another way, so I opened another window, switched off all the lights except one that could guide the bat outside and hey presto - away it went happily to where it wanted to be which was outside catching whatever it wanted to catch.

I now have nets on all the windows just in case although we are priviledged with some sort of wildlife encounter at some point or another during our stay, such as fire salamanders in the font and bullfrogs in the cellar along with snakes on the porch!

It's bat's I'm looking at for the moment though as I realise that these are treated differently although other wildlife experiences wouldn't go amiss


----------



## wink (Aug 23, 2011)

This might be of interest, certainly worth taking precautions.

HPA - European Bat Lyssavirus: Frequently Asked Questions


----------



## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Might be useful to those interested to look at Portuguese information on Bats (Morcegos) conservation etc
Morcegos — ICNF


----------



## maidentales (Mar 29, 2010)

They are interesting links and the bat in the utility room doesn't take kindly to being woken up that's for sure.

We can kick it out by simply blocking up a missing square in an old wooden door but for the moment it's only been kicked out of the cellar and re-homed but we do wish to keep the bat population.

Most certainly I'm finding that I lean towards wanting to protect the wilderness that could be a life saver for humanity in the long term - certainly we have a massive wasp and bee population in the area and the bats are numerous - there are many empty properties in the area that bats may also inhabit.

I suspect they have chosen the roof space that we can't access above a pre-1951 room extension as they don't get disturbed there and that's a combination I'm happy to keep as they seem happy too, but at some point it's going to mean re-roofing or repairs and that's my main concern although that's possibly not going to happen in my lifetime!

Thanks for the links - I shall take a look.


----------

