Without bats we face a bleak future of spoilt crops and ruined gardens

CHUDLEIGH councillor Mary Colclough (HE, July 7) said, and I quote: "It seems to me we are putting bats before people."

Have she and others never stopped to think why bats are now a European Protected Species or why Natural England treats them as a priority when consulted in planning issues?

Along with worms, birds and bees, bats are extremely important to our quality of life. There are 15 types of bat in Devon. All are insect-eaters and each have their own feeding habits, favourite diets and foraging grounds.

Man's ignorance is ruining the bat's winter and maternity roosts and causing the destruction of essential trees, hedges, ditches, grazing fields and even narrow country lanes.

Do the bat haters not wish to have food on their plates? Do they not want to sit in their garden on a warm summer's evening? Are they so anti-social that they do not entertain friends with an evening barbecue?

Remove the bats, and our food chain will be seriously affected.

The larvae of the codling moth would play havoc with all fruit trees, and the swift moth larvae (classed with the codling as a serious agricultural pest) would ruin crops from celery to parsnips, artichokes to beans and more.

We would also see a decline in the beauty of our gardens as lawns would be ruined by cranefly larvae, soft fruit lost to the caterpillars of the magpie moth, and the swift moth larvae would destroy the roots of our herbaceous border plants.

The rare greater horseshoe bat is one of the most important in the UK. Owing to its size this bat opts for 'the bigger beetle menu'.

Favourites include the dung and dor beetles, the huge cockchafers (on the wing in May/June) and the most harmful of all, the cranefly (commonly called daddy long legs).

The protected but more common pipistrelle bat has a very voracious appetite. Although only an inch and a half long and weighing no more than a 50p piece, a single pipistrelle will devour 3,000 mosquitoes in a night.

Multiply that figure by several hundred more flying around the skies of the Newton Abbot, Chudleigh, Kingsteignton and Bovey Tracey area and we are talking millions of eaten mosquitoes.

To sum up, without bats the future would be bleak — spoilt crops, ruined gardens and life made unbearable after dusk by midges and mosquitoes. As you can see, bats, with the daytime insect-eating birds, are essential to our well-being — so please do not put people before bats.

But just a few words of warning. If you find an injured bat ring the local vets or preferably the Bat Conservation Trust on 0845 1300 228 for advice.

If no one is available and you wish to put the bat into a box for safety, put on some thick gloves then gently lift it between your thumb and forefinger. If looking out for an injury do not spread out both wings at the same time. Gently put the bat in a box with a small container of water— and remember: an injured and frightened bat will bite.

If you are bitten it is essential to go straight to a hospital for a tetanus injection. Bat bites carry a minute risk of catching rabies.

W SANDERS, Broadway Avenue Kingsteignton