Batty Regulation
We’ve got bats and liked them, until the regulations made us regret our tolerance of them as the bills and complications mounted. Sitting with a glass of wine in our small courtyard in Wiltshire and watching the bats swoop from their nesting places was a real pleasure. We’d even drag friends out from summer dinners to watch the acrobats in action. We liked the bats. But now I fear that our experience has left everyone who has heard our tale determined to eradicate any bats they find and to tell nobody. That’s not good for conservation and it’s all down to an obsessive over-regulation that puts the interests of bats over those of humans and scarcely compromises at all. When we bought our house 25 years ago, we knew that one part of the property had bats in it, probably as a resting spot for Greater Horseshoe. When we carried out some conversion work on that part of the building, we abided by the restrictions that then applied - restricting work to the winter months. Quite volunt...