The ancient woodland of Ebernoe Common, Sussex, UK, probably dates back to the end of the last ice age.  It is one of the most significant hotspots for bats in western Europe.

At a glance
Fourteen of the 17 British bats make their home here - including two separate colonies of rare Bechstein’s bats and a significant colony of barbastelle bats.

What is the threat?
The two bat species are among the rarest mammals in the UK. Yet they live in some of the most heavily populated regions. Barbastelle bats travel long distances to specific feeding grounds, which makes the species particularly difficult to conserve.  Efforts involve an integrated approach with many different land owners.

What are charities doing to help?
The Sussex Wildlife Trust first acquired Ebernoe Common in 1980 when it rescued the forest from the threat of replacement by a conifer plantation, and it was designated as a National Nature Reserve in 1998.

The Trust - along with the West Weald Landscape Project partnership  – is working to enhance a 240 square-kilometre area with Ebernoe at its heart. It is striving to create space for nature and encourage natural processes.

A key aim of the project is to create better connections between wildlife hotspots, enabling species to thrive within and move between sites.  Among other benefits, this will give them a better chance of adapting to the impacts of climate change.
 
More about SWT
SWT is advising landowners on how best to manage their land to benefit bats. Detailed studies are identifying the best places to target for conservation efforts.

‘There is an urgent need to update our knowledge of bat colonies at Ebernoe and discover how they interact with each other and use the wider countryside.  Extra money will allow the SWT to fund surveys by bat specialists.’

Extra funding can pay for officers to carry out surveys and provide advice to farmers.  It can also fund conservation management works, such as planting and restoring woodland strips and hedgerows, and creating and enhancing wetland features.

What can I do?

• Encourage wildlife to your garden, avoid pesticides and allow corners of your garden to grow into wilderness.
• Donate to the BBC Wildlife Fund.

Did you know?

• Skeletons from 3,000-year-old deposits suggest that many more Bechstein’s bats once lived in the UK. Their decline may be down to the removal of deciduous woodland throughout the whole country.
• Bechstein’s are very quiet bats. They can be difficult to detect with bat detectors, which listen for the ultrasound calls bats use to navigate.
• Humans can hear sounds with frequencies between 20 and 15,000 hertz (vibrations per second). In contrast, bats commonly emit echolocation ultrasounds at frequencies between 12,000 and 100,000 hertz. Some bat species can hear up to 160,000 hertz.
• Ancient woodland is defined as land that has been continuously wooded for at least 400 years. The bad news is that this type of habitat now covers just two per cent of the UK, though the West Weald is fortunate to have ten times as much, at 20 per cent.