AFTER a century of decline, one well-known mammal is making a dramatic return to Scottish wildlife.
The common pipistrelle bat is estimated to have grown in population by around 79 per cent over the last six years.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), who commissioned the research, claim the reasons for the boost in numbers include the introduction of legal protection for bats, fewer roost losses due to development and less harmful timber treatment chemicals now being used in roof voids.
However, while the pipistrelle - which can consume up to 3000 midges in one night - has thrived, other bat populations have remained stable since 1999.
Robert Raynor, SNH’s mammal expert, said: “Although this is certainly good news, many threats still exist for bats.
“There are nine or ten species of bat in Scotland, and we still need to improve our survey coverage so we can better understand what is happening with their numbers – not just the most common three.
“Everyone can play their part to help encourage healthy bat populations.
“Bat boxes can provide safe roosts, as will letting bats make use of your roof for the part of year. Planting your garden with flowering plants, trees and shrubs that attract insects can also help.”
The common pipistrelle is found throughout the UK and the bat surveys, which were calculated by the Bat Conservation Trust using data from the National Bat Monitoring Programme, show that its population is also increasing UK-wide.
It is one of the smallest British bat species and is found in many habitats, including woodland edge, hedgerows, tree lines, gardens, parks and, like many other bats, near open water where there are abundant insects..
However, despite improvements for the pipistrelle, bats are still threatened by building and development work and loss of habitat.
Anne Youngman, Bat Conservation Trust Scottish officer, added: "We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers taking part in this citizen science project across Scotland.
"We really appreciate them for donating their time to help us find out how Scottish bats are doing.
"We are delighted to be able to show that their hard work and dedication allows us to produce a positive picture for the population of common pipistrelle.
"It’s difficult to say why common pipistrelle appear to be recovering from the large historical decline.
"It’s really important that we encourage even more volunteers to help us continue and expand our monitoring efforts so that we can see how bats are faring over the coming years.
"So, if you enjoy being out of doors and would like to find out more about bats then do sign up to the National Bat Monitoring programme; it’s fun, it’s different and it’s important."
The survey results used data from four different types of studies including roost counts, hibernation surveys, field surveys and waterway surveys.
For more information on the research, the Trends of Bats in Scotland report can be found at www.snh.gov.uk/.
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