The London Bat Group

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The London Bat Group is an entirely voluntary registered charity working throughout the Greater London area to protect and enhance London's bats. Please support us in our work to conserve these wonderful wild animals in Greater London.

We are affiliated to the Bat Conservation Trust, a national organisation working in partnership with Britain's many County based volunteer bat groups and working on a conservation strategy for Britain's bats.

The London Bat Group aims to:

Protect and conserve bats, their roosts, feeding areas and hibernation sites in Greater London.
Provide information on bats to the public
Monitor bat populations and distribution
Maintain a pool of licensed volunteer bat workers who can visit roost sites and provide expert assistance on matters relating to bats in Greater London

The London Bat Group is pleased to be the lead partner in the London Biodiversity Partnerships Species Action Plan for bats.

The London Bat Group also organises a series of public bat walks and surveys, mainly during the summer months.

Bats have historically been greatly misunderstood, but people are now becoming increasingly fascinated by these delightful little animals as they fly over our gardens and open spaces at dusk. Having been present on the earth for 50 million years it would be awful if we were to witness their extinction as a result of our indifference or ignorance. Yet that is precisely the threat that hangs over many bat species, and is why groups like the London Bat Group exist; to ensure that bats continue to delight us for generations to come.

There are sixteen species of bat in Britain all of which eat only insects and have wing spans from 19 to 35cm. All have experienced severe declines in numbers, causing people to make remarks like "there used to be hundreds of bats round here, but now you never see them". Many species can be found in Greater London, see our Bats of London page for more details.

Bats can be seen in all of the London Boroughs, especially the tiny pipistrelle which manages to hang on even the more built up areas of central London. There are a number of excellent sites around Greater London where you should be able to easily see bats, see our Where to see bats in London page for details.

Bats use an amazing system known as echolocation which we can hear by using ultrasonic bat detectors.

You can contact us via our enquiries email address enquiries@londonbats.org.uk