Knockhatch Adventure Park Bat Project

Here at Knockhatch Adventure Park have been running a conservation project revolving around bats and conserving them for the last 5 years. Knockhatch has many areas of naturally occurring habitats and resources that appear to encourage biodiversity, with many different species having been spotted and recorded by both customers and staff over the years. Bats, also known as Chiroptera, make up around 20% of all Mammal life and positively impact their local ecosystem. Here in the UK, we have 18 species of bat, from the tiny pipistrelle to the chunky noctule, however it is thought that bat numbers are declining across the UK due to a variety of reasons. Bats are unfortunately facing a number of threats in the UK, largely loss of habitat due to urbanisation, intensive agricultural farming, the building of new housing developments, they are also being affected by climate change and the overall decline of invertebrates which comprises the entirety of the British bat species diet. It is due to this and the important role they play in our British ecology that we decided to develop this project.

The aim of the project was to establish an understanding of bat species present at Knockhatch Adventure Park, so that these could be monitored over many years. Furthermore we wanted to improve areas around the site to make them more friendly for the local wildlife. All native bat species are insectivorous, so ensuring that there is a healthy and viable diversity of insect species is crucial. We built a conservation-focused garden in 2018. The garden has several points to support local wildlife including a pond, bat barn, log pile, rockery and the grass sowed with wildflowers. Other than mowing and cutting back the foliage once a year, this area has been largely left to its own devices as we feel nature knows best! We have also built bug hotels, put up a bat box (with the plan in 2025 to put up more) and looked at trying to improve the overall diversity of local flora by planting up both the pond in the conservation garden and the small pond by Froggies soft play with a diverse array of native pond plant species.

Over the duration of this project, we have recorded a total of 9 different species of bat across the site. These species included the common and soprano pipistrelle, brown long-eared bat, common noctule, natterer’s and whiskered myotis bats and the daubenton’s bat. We have also sighted a wide diversity of different wildlife across the site including barn owls, tawny owls, foxes, voles, shrews, grass snakes, newts, butterflies, moths and bees.

As we continue on with this project we aim to further monitor these species, while also planning to evaluate other areas that could be developed or improved upon with a wildlife conservation focus.