Most people think of bats as horrid little creatures that fly around in horror films, suck blood and get caught in your hair because they are blind. They couldn't be more wrong! Although bats are harmless and protected by law, ignorance and dislike causes many people to drive them out of places such as house lofts, attics, barns and churches.

Bats are not blind. They have a very sophisticated sonar system with which they can pick up insects as tiny as mosquitoes. They also have extremely good manoeuvrability - so they won't get caught in your hair! They are also a very good friend to the gardener.

Bats are useful because because they eat many night-flying insects that damage crops and trees. They help to control insect populations in a less destructive way than chemical sprays, which kill all insects and often other animals down the food chain, bats included.

All British bats feed on insects,on a summers night they can eat up to 3000, that's an awful lot of insects that might have been damaging your crops and plants. They need a continuous supply of food during the summer and a wide choice of places to roost, or shelter, throughout the year.

There are 16 resident species of bat in Britain, making up a third of our land mammal species. Bat populations are threatened by loss of habitat, affecting roosting sites and feeding grounds. When Britain was largely tree-covered, bats roosted in holes in old trees and caves. Now that we have cut down so many trees, bats have sought alternative roosts and are often found in buildings. Bats need a wide choice of roost sites as requirements change with the season. Bats rarely live in belfries, they prefer somewhere quiet, draught free and free from cobwebs. This is one reason why Bats often choose modern houses as roost sites - about half of all known pipistrelle bat roosts known in the 1980s were in houses less than 25 years old. Bats spend a lot of time grooming themselves and each other, so they are very clean animals. Bat droppings consist merely of the indigestible hard parts of insects and they do not present a hazard to health.

All British Bats are protected under Law and it is illegal to disturb bats or the places where they roost.

Although we cannot guarantee to encourage bats to a garden, careful planning will increase your gardens value to wildlife. A variety of animal visitors will be attracted, from insects to birds, and hopefully bats will be among them.

There are a few things that can help attract bats such as growing night-scented flowers. These will attract moths and other night-flying insects which are of particular importance to bats. Planting herbs and old fashioned cottage-garden annuals will help to attract insects or sow wild flower seed collections in your borders.

A pond can also be very beneficial to bats. Many insects start life in freshwater, emerging only as adults. A pile of logs left undisturbed in the shrubbery or a corner of the garden to rot, will become home to a host of insects and other organisms.

Make or buy a bat box, there's no guarantee that bats will use it, but there's always a chance that they will and last but probably more important, avoid using chemicals. Certain insecticides may not only cancel out much that you are doing to encourage bats, but may also harm the bats themselves.