Woodland management advice for Bechstein’s bat and barbastelle bat (ENRR658)

Barbastelle and Bechsteins bats are at the northern edge of their range in Britain with the barbastelle reaching a bit further north than Bechsteins bat. Both species are considered rare in Britain although the Bechsteins bat has at least the potential to have high local populations in large areas of dense deciduous woodland. The barbastelle on the other hand has small populations spread over very large areas at all its known colonies. Both animals are extremely hard to locate and observe and viable populations can remain unnoticed even in well-studied woodlands.