Horseshoe Bat
Greater horseshoe bat and lesser horseshoe bat populations are
restricted to South West England and Wales. Bats depend on a good
network of diverse habitats and are therefore vulnerable to habitat
fragmentation and land change. This means they are good indicators
of the health of the local environment. The greater horseshoe is one of
Britain’s rarest bats and Berry Head holds a colony of between 80–100
individuals (English Nature, 2000; Dispersal and foraging behaviour of
greater horseshoe bats, Brixham, Devon), with an estimate of only 5,000 individuals in the UK. The lesser horseshoe has suffered severe decline in the northern part of its range and suffers from loss or damage to summer roosts and winter hibernation sites.
Main Objectives & Key Actions:
1. Maintain and where suitable
enhance current populations of
lesser and greater horseshoe bats
in Torbay.
2. Improve and increase favourable
management of feeding areas and flight routes.
3. Increase an understanding of bat roost distribution in Torbay.
4. Raise awareness of the bats in Torbay especially with local community, roost owners, planners, developers and land managers.
- Loss, destruction and disturbance of roosting and hibernation sites.
- Loss of food – Large insect abundance declined due to intensification of agricultural land resulting in loss of unimproved pasture, insecticides, unsuitable worming treatments for livestock.
- Unsympathetic management of corridors
e.g. good hedgerows that the bats use as networks to/from feeding and roost sites.
- Development and destruction of flight
path features.
Current threats to this species:
