Why Churchyards and Woodland Edges Matter

Churchyards are quiet, old and largely undisturbed. Many contain yews, oaks, ashes and limes that have stood for centuries, along with stone walls, lychgates and corners where insects thrive. Add a hedgerow boundary and a pond or two, and you have a mosaic of roosting, feeding and commuting habitat that much of the modern landscape has lost.

Woodland edges are just as valuable. The transition between open ground and canopy — scalloped glades, wide rides, sheltered southern fringes — is where insects concentrate and bats hunt most efficiently. A bat working a hedgerow or a woodland edge is using it as a flight line, feeding as it goes. Manage either space with bats in mind and small changes go a long way.

Plant for Night-Time Insects

Most British bats eat insects, and most of those are moths, midges, beetles and caddisflies. Encouraging the prey is the single most effective thing you can do.

• Night-scented flowers: honeysuckle, evening primrose, night-scented stock and soapwort release scent after dusk and draw in moths.
• Pale flowers: white campion, bladder campion, ox-eye daisy and meadow crane's-bill are easier for moths to find in low light.
• Late-season nectar: flowering ivy is a lifeline in autumn, when bats fatten up before winter. Leave it on walls and trees where it is not causing damage.
• Native shrubs and herbs: bramble, knapweed, scabious and wild marjoram support moths and other insects through the summer.

Aim for flowers from early spring through to ivy in November. In a churchyard, that can mean leaving a strip of grass long and cutting paths through it, so the place still looks cared for.

Keep the Mature Trees and Deadwood

Bats roost in cracks, hollows, lifted bark and rot holes — features that take decades to form. A tree does not need to be in perfect health to be valuable. Standing dead trees, storm-damaged limbs and decaying trunks are among the richest roosting sites in a churchyard or wood.

Where it is safe to do so, retain standing dead trees and stags, especially away from paths, graves and parking areas; trees with obvious holes, splits or dense ivy cover; and fallen deadwood in less-visited corners, which feeds insects and in turn bats.

If a tree must be felled or pruned, get advice first. All British bats and their roosts are legally protected, and a roost can be present in a tree showing no obvious signs. A licensed bat worker should survey before any work begins.

Protect the Dark Corridors

Lighting is one of the quietest threats bats face. Lesser and greater horseshoes, barbastelles and brown long-eared bats are particularly light-shy, and even more tolerant species avoid a lit flight line. Artificial light can delay emergence from roosts and sever the routes bats use to reach feeding grounds.

Keep lighting away from hedgerows, tree lines, watercourses, church towers and known roost entrances. Fit hoods, shields and baffles so light falls only where it is needed, and point fittings downwards. Choose warm-coloured, low-intensity lamps and use timers or motion sensors rather than dusk-to-dawn lighting. Where a church path genuinely needs light, keep it low, brief and directed at the ground.

A dark corridor between roost and feeding area is worth more than any amount of planting. Think of it as a road that must stay open at night.

Manage Woodland Edges Gently

Rides and edges respond well to light, regular intervention. Widen rides where you can and cut them on rotation, so there is always a mix of short, sunny turf and taller, flower-rich margins. Scallop the wood's edge — cut curved bays into the canopy — to create sheltered, sunlit pockets that insects and bats both favour.

Coppice small coupes on a long rotation to keep the wood in a range of ages; cut stumps, standards and regrowth all provide roosting and foraging structure. Leave some standards to full maturity. Cut hedgerow boundaries on a two- or three-year rotation rather than annually, and leave the occasional tall, thick section untouched.

Water is a bonus. A pond, damp ditch or slow stream will bring in Daubenton's bats, which skim the surface for insects, while caddisflies emerging from the water feed many other species.

Work With Others and Know the Rules

Churchyards are usually managed by volunteers, and woodland by owners, farmers or community groups. Talk to your county bat group or the relevant statutory nature conservation body early, before plans are fixed. They can advise on surveys, roost protection, timing of works and, where necessary, licences.

Record what you see. Even simple evening counts or a bat detector survey build a picture of which species use the site and when, and that evidence makes it much easier to argue for dark skies, retained trees and thoughtful planting in the years ahead.

None of this needs to be complicated. Leave the light off, keep the old trees, let some flowers go to seed, and the bats will find you.