'Batman' on mission to boost mammal's image

Ross Baker said he first fell in love with bats as a child

Warmer weather means people will soon start to see more bats, but a man from Surrey says anyone who finds one roosting in their home should not be alarmed.

Ross Baker, from Weybridge, has transformed his garden into a “service station” for bats. He wants to reassure people that the bats will only roost in spaces that are already there.

“They don’t have gnawing teeth, they don’t damage properties. They just haven’t got the dentition to do that,” he told BBC Radio Surrey.

Mr Baker said that since he first started his bat haven two decades ago, he has been trying to improve their image.

“When I first became a volunteer bat roost visitor, we were trying to do a PR job for the bats,” he said.

“People were very concerned that they had bats. They thought the bats were going to do damage to their property.

"We had to say no, look, bats are not related to mice at all. Completely different order, they’re not rodents.”

Bats start to appear in the early evening

Logs and sticks are stacked around a pond in Mr Baker’s garden, which is surrounded by native hedgerow. He calls it a “service station” for bats who pop in to snack on insects before flying to the River Wey.

He says that when temperatures reach about 10C (50F), bats will start showing themselves, because that is the critical temperature for insects on which they feed.

Mr Baker and his partner, Lynn Whitfield, also care for injured bats. They feed them mealworms with organic oats and dandelion leaves, which are packed with nutrients.

The couple have even picked up a nickname from people when they rescue the tiny mammals.

“They’ll ask us ‘which one of you is Batman and which one of you is Robin?’.”

Pipistrelles are the most common type of bat found in the UK. They weigh about 5g (0.2oz) and can fit inside a matchbox.