Bats in bat boxes hung as part of the project

Bat protection is an important part of our project. The threats to these animals include, among others, a decreasing number of shelters such as tree holes and crevices in trunk cracks and behind protruding bark, which can serve as breeding places or temporary hiding places. One of the methods of active protection of these mammals is to provide them with alternative shelters by hanging boxes designed especially for them.

As part of our project, last autumn and winter season we hung 87 bat boxes in the Romincka Forest Landscape Park. Inspections of the boxes carried out this year showed that bats have already started using them. ​Min. 15 bat boxes have been inhabited.

One of the species found in the boxes is the western barbastelle Barbastella barbastellus. This forest bat is included in Annex II of the Habitats Directive and belongs to species for the protection of which Natura 2000 areas are created. Besides the western barbastelles, the boxes were inhabited by pipistrelle bats Pipistrellus sp., Daubenton’s bats Myotis daubentonii and the northern bats Eptesicus nilssonii.