Upon this night of Halloween festivities consider some of those creatures which Halloween myths have turned into monsters such as bats! I really do think that Count Dracula has a lot to answer to when it comes to the misconceptions about bats and their spooky image.

Here are a few bat facts to get rid of those myths:

1 – In Europe, bats only eat insects – in fact a pipistrelle can eat up to 3000 midges a night

2 – Bats rarely live in belfries, much preferring somewhere quiet and free of cobwebs.

3 – Bats are more closely related to people than to mice.

4 – Bats do not build nests but hand up or crawl into existing cracks and crannies in trees and buildings.

5 – Bats can see, but they need to hunt insects at night and so use a highly sophisticated echolocation system to find their way around in the dark.

6 – Like all mammals, bats have fur and give birth to live young, which they suckle on milk until they can fly and feed themselves.

7 – A pipistrelle, Europe’s smallest bat, would fit on the end of your thumb.

8 – There are 16 species of bats found in the UK of which 11 are considered to be vulnerable or rare.

9 – Numbers have declined because of loss of places to shelter and feed, use of toxic timber treatment in lofts and persecution due to myths and misunderstandings.

Fancy a treat this Halloween – then why not treat yourself or a friend to an unusual present ‘Adopt a bat!’ Dont worry it doesnt involve living with one – but you do get an adoption pack and your donation helps towards the conservation programme.