So, there I was enjoying a nice cold one and my client popped over to give me another little job. Bat Boxes. :evilangel:
They are not so evil as films make them out to be so that emoticon is quite fitting
He came armed with two pages he got off 'internet, from a wildlife trust up north based on something the Kent wildlife trust did a few years ago so that was my remit.
The plans call for sawn untreated timber, my local yard could not provide anything less expensive than sawn joinery grade, which is both a waste of resources and money for this task. I explained this to the chap who was on the counter and he offered a solution, (I like those,) what if I could make do with some prepared timber that was in their short ends rack at a reduced rate in keeping with what I wanted. It meant extra work sawing shallow cuts into the inside faces of the components but I can live with that.
The shallow cuts are to give the bats an anchor point when roosting and act as a ladder for entry into the box and roost placement.
The boxes.
Three went into the roof space in the farmhouse, a very confined area as most of the house is of a Hall House construction, so no pics of those.
The others went up a tree but I had to get to the tree....
6 metres of thick bramble and stinging nettles and armed only with secateurs, boots and rigger gloves aided by a can do attitude and a few swear words :tapedshut
I had to clear a bit around the base of the tree and put the boxes around 5mtrs high, this pic shows the north facing box on the left and the WSW one on the right.
This one is the ESE facing one, you can see my tape measure hanging over the branch up and right of the box.
The location is right by a pond, currently dried up but usually supporting all kinds of insect life and we had a family of Mallards on there in early spring, a few good downpours of our typical english summer and it will be teaming with life again and is very close to a large woodland area. So I hope it ticks all the boxes for our local bat population and says :welcome1: .
I think the tree is of the Lime family but not sure which one, it is big and the bark is deeply fissured with younger branches and leaves like below....£1 coin for scale.
Leaf bot left is top view, leaf left above coin is underside, young twig for added info, so if anyone can positively ID this tree please do as it will help.
Ta for looking in.
Rob.
They are not so evil as films make them out to be so that emoticon is quite fitting
He came armed with two pages he got off 'internet, from a wildlife trust up north based on something the Kent wildlife trust did a few years ago so that was my remit.
The plans call for sawn untreated timber, my local yard could not provide anything less expensive than sawn joinery grade, which is both a waste of resources and money for this task. I explained this to the chap who was on the counter and he offered a solution, (I like those,) what if I could make do with some prepared timber that was in their short ends rack at a reduced rate in keeping with what I wanted. It meant extra work sawing shallow cuts into the inside faces of the components but I can live with that.
The shallow cuts are to give the bats an anchor point when roosting and act as a ladder for entry into the box and roost placement.
The boxes.
Three went into the roof space in the farmhouse, a very confined area as most of the house is of a Hall House construction, so no pics of those.
The others went up a tree but I had to get to the tree....
6 metres of thick bramble and stinging nettles and armed only with secateurs, boots and rigger gloves aided by a can do attitude and a few swear words :tapedshut
I had to clear a bit around the base of the tree and put the boxes around 5mtrs high, this pic shows the north facing box on the left and the WSW one on the right.
This one is the ESE facing one, you can see my tape measure hanging over the branch up and right of the box.
The location is right by a pond, currently dried up but usually supporting all kinds of insect life and we had a family of Mallards on there in early spring, a few good downpours of our typical english summer and it will be teaming with life again and is very close to a large woodland area. So I hope it ticks all the boxes for our local bat population and says :welcome1: .
I think the tree is of the Lime family but not sure which one, it is big and the bark is deeply fissured with younger branches and leaves like below....£1 coin for scale.
Leaf bot left is top view, leaf left above coin is underside, young twig for added info, so if anyone can positively ID this tree please do as it will help.
Ta for looking in.
Rob.
