Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week!

I have some news out of Flintshire, Wales. People working at the County Hall in Mold have been seeing some adorable bats flying around since 2010. The building was meant to be demolished; however, something must be done about the bats first.

Wildlife experts were called in and they found at least 13 roosts, and saw at least 26 bats. About 20 of them were found on the sixth floor. Sadly, one of the pipistrelles was found stuck in a flypaper trap. Luckily, the glue was able to be washed away and the bat is now alright. I would like to remind people that flypaper is extremely harmful to a lot of wildlife.

Until the bats’ safety can be assured, council members have stopped the planned demolition. The hundreds of staff members who worked in the building have moved to the new offices at St David’s Park. While many of the bats left their roosts on their own, some of them had to be caught and released back into the wild by trained officers. After examining the building, there could be as many as 100 other possible roosting locations. The building has been evaluated as having a “high potential for roosting bats in the summer and for hibernating bats in the winter”. Officials are now determining the best way to protect the bats. It is possible that the entire building will not be demolished, and instead, there would be a “soft demolition” which would remove the offices, but leave the rest of the building for the bats to roost in.

If you would like to read more you can do so here.

Video to embed https://youtu.be/hdHHn3n5ugc