Bat crazy

Today is a saturday, and as I mentioned on a previous post I had quite an unnusual morning planned. The buildings on The Green in Kings Norton that won the BBC Restoration have been found to be the home of a variety of 4 different bat varieties; the Common Pipistrelle, the Soprano Pipistrelle, the Brown Long Eared Bat and the Natterer’s Bat. More info at:
http://www.bats.org.uk/

Anyway, before the big building work begins on the buildings we have to re-home the bats because they are an endangered species. So this morning we invited the local community to build bat boxes! Bat boxes, from what I can see are rather like bird houses, and there are instructions on how to build them on that website above. As with all these things you never know how big a success to expect; I always prepare myself for worst case scenario (I wore heels so that under no circumstance could I be forced to climb a tree to knock one of these boxes up!!!). In fact about 60 people turned up, all different ages, sizes and I suspect very few were familliar with knocking nails into wood. Still we followed instructions and had a great time. Tea and biscuits were on tap fortunately and in under two hours we'd constructed 50 boxes!!! I made 2!!!! I used to hate woodworking at school, but I loved it this time. If aggression was required the knock the nail in I just remembered my old PE teacher...! Here are the photos of my efforts:
My first bat box!
















My TWO boxes!
















Me getting friendly with my hammer!
















Finally, a well-meaning and industrious volunteer has not only signed his box for posterity but he's put a contact number on! Maybe the bats can call him to say thank you!













Pues este manana fue estrano pero muy interesante. Construi 2 cajas para murcielagos. El murcielago es una especie bajo proteccion, y hasta hoy han vivido en los edificios que ahora queremos restaurar. En fin, Eramos unos 60 voluntarios esta manana, ninos, padres, abuelos, personas de cualquier tipo y origen, y constuimos 50 cajas para los vecinos murcielagos! Yo construi DOS, y en la escuela odiaba clases de construccion o madera... Fue un gran exito!