Impact of bat reserves in Ireland
Managing secure spaces for rare bats
Vincent Wildlife Trust has a long and successful history of establishing and managing reserves for rare bat species. Today, the Trust manages 37 sites in Ireland, England, and Wales, all of which are roosts of the greater or lesser horseshoe bat. In Ireland, the Trust manages 12 reserves for the lesser horseshoe bat.
Building work
The Trust began acquiring buildings in Ireland used by the lesser horseshoe bat in the late 1990s and currently manages 12, located in Mayo (2), Galway (1), Clare (1), and Kerry (8). All are summer breeding sites, although, during mild winters, up to 1,000 bats hibernate in the Kerry sites, roosting in the ground-floor areas. During the summer of 2024, 3,635 lesser horseshoe bats used Trust properties in Ireland, which is equivalent to around 25% of the national population.
For some of the reserves, minor works are needed to ensure the building continues as a suitable breeding site, but where the building is in an advanced state of disrepair, major rebuilding work is carried out, following a full structural inspection by a chartered building surveyor. Although the types of buildings acquired range from single-storey stone cottages to large two-storey stables, the aim of the renovation work is the same — to provide a structurally sound building that also meets the roosting needs of the bats.
At some reserves, ‘bat specific’ features have been incorporated to further enhance the building, based on research and practical measures tested at VWT sites in Britain. This work is described in detail in VWT's Lesser Horseshoe Bat Conservation Handbook, due to be printed May 2025.
Contributing to the national bat monitoring programme in Ireland
As well as managing bat reserves for lesser horseshoe bats, VWT staff and volunteers carry out annual bat counts every summer and winter to understand how the population is faring. These counts are added to the National Bat Monitoring Programme in Ireland managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in collaboration with Bat Conservation Ireland.
