Erik are you familiar with this?
No I was not familiar with this particular plaque, but I know there are several "building friendly houses for bats". In this case it is not about the "bat houses" this Forum is about, but about bat friendly homes. In all countries of the European Union bats are protected by the Nature 2000 legislation, more specific by the Habitat Directive. In almost all EU -countries that European Legislation is implemented into national laws and in my country there is a law that protects natural habitats by creating and protecting a network of connected nature reserves and a law that protects the wild animals itself, whether or not they are living in a nature reserve or outside of it. Bats are heavily protected within that law. I have written about that earlier in this topic:
http://www.bathouseforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=426As a lot of our bats choose there roost in brick wall or roof crevices and in attics protecting those roost is a bat and people friendly way is very important. In renovation project growing attention is payed to saving these roosts and also create new roosts in new building projects. Not only for bats, but also for birds that roost in houses e.g. sparrows and swifts). People who are proud to live in a bat friendly house can get this plaque. I think it is a good idea, the plaque is not only there to please the owners, it also has a high educational value.
Jogl said:
Tax dollars hard at work! The money would be better spent on building another bat house.
We are building bat houses as well, but it remains to be seen if the bat houses you build (North America) will fit the needs of our house dwelling bats. Outside of towns most homes in the USA are made of wood, is that correct? So a house dwelling bat in the USA is used to wooden roost structures and the micro climates in these type of structures. Our houses are mainly made of bricks or concrete (sometimes combined with wood) and we are still investigating how to build artificial roost that have the same micro climate (with the same temperature buffering properties) as these massive brick or stone bat roosts. For example my big bat houses is a success because they have chosen it as a nursery roost. But in spring, fall and winter the bats move from the bat house into the wall where the bat house is mounted on. How do we make a artificial bat house that has the same micro climate as a 10 meters wide and 8 meters high double brick wall?
Therefor, protecting and creating bat roosts inside buildings is very important for our bats. And as long as not everybody is happy abouts bats these "bat friendly house" is a great reward for the owners and project developers that put an effort into roost protection en creation.
