| Bats
All of the bats that live in the United Kingdom hunt for insects to eat during the summer months and then search for quiet, cool places to hibernate.
In the Faversham area places like Oare
Gunpowder Works are important for bats as the remaining brick
walls provide many small spaces so that bats can spend the
cold winter months tucked away in undisturbed peace. Extra
features that provide additional places for bats to hibernate
are included in several of the buildings at Oare.
For a bat it is equally important to
find flying insects to eat during the spring, summer and autumn
months. With the pond and leats, the woodland rides and the
firing range grassland there are many different insects flying
around at dusk and dawn.
During the spring bats spend their time
feeding on insects, trying to regain weight lost during hibernation.
Female bats become pregnant and begin to return to maternity
roosts.
Bats give birth and suckle their young
at the maternity roosts in the company of female relations.
As the summer proceeds the mothers go out to feed on insects
each night and the young cluster together to keep warm. Within
six weeks the young can fly and catch their food.
During the autumn, bats feast on the
huge populations of flying insects at Oare and the surrounding
marshes. If you are a bat you will need thousands of small
items of food - mosquitoes and flies - whereas larger items
like big moths and summer chafers or cockchafers must be a
bonus. Bats store excess food as fat, an energy resource to
be used in the winter-time.
As the days shorten and the temperature
drops, bats will seek out safe places to sleep away the winter.
Holes and cracks in the trunks of large trees, or cracks and
crevasses in old brick buildings tend to maintain a steady
temperature of about 4 degrees Celsius, just right for a bat
deep in hibernation.
There are sixteen species of bat found
regularly in Britain, with twelve of these occurring in Kent.
Six species of bat have been identified at Oare Gunpowder
Works. The interpretation boards give details about the following:
- Brown Long-eared bat Plecotus
auritus
- Daubenton’s bat Myotis
daubentonii
- Natterer’s bat Myotis
natteri
- Noctule bat Nyctalus
noctua
- Pipistrelle bat Pipistrellus
pipistrellus and Pipistrellis pygmaeus
All British bats and their roosts are
given full protection under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside
Act (as amended) and the 1994 Habitat Regulations.
If you want
to know more about bats in Britain visit The Bat Conservation
Trust on www.bats.org.uk
If you want
to know more about bats in Kent go to www.kentbatgroup.org.uk
Other Mammals
The woodland rides cutting through the
woodland at Oare Gunpowder Works provide food and shelter
for many small mammals. No one has studied the wild mammal
population here but it is reasonable to assume that, at times,
there are hedgehogs snuffling through searching
for succulent earthworms to eat or piles of leaves in which
to hibernate. Foxes patrol the woods and
adjacent urban areas and badgers are likely
to search the damp soil for tasty snacks. The mixed habitats
are likely to support small mammals like woodmice,
common shrew and perhaps bank vole.
Badgers and their setts are protected
under the protection of Badgers Act 1992.
Hedgehogs are given special listing
under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Find out
more about mammals in Britain from the The Mammal Society
on www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal.
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