Bats Bats manage to live alongside humans throughout Britain, you may even find them sharing your house. Don't worry though, these much misunderstood animals are not the evil creatures we often imagine them to be, but are simply flying mammals with a taste for insects. Bats World wide there are circa some 980 species of bat, ranging in size from species with six foot wingspans to a bat as small as a bee. There are some 30 species in Europe with 14 species occurring in Britain, all the British species are relatively small and insectivorous. There are about 1000 species of bats in the World.
Bats are most abundant around the equator.
We have 15 species in the UK, of which 10 are found in Staffordshire. Recent surveys have indicated that almost all the British species are in decline, with a large population fall for even the most abundant species, the Common Pipistrelle. This page provides a few snippets of information about the bats and provides links to more in-depth resources should you wish to delve deeper. This page was last updated November 2000.