Now, Before Spring, Is The Time To Take Control
Just as I was thinking about how to do the environmentally friendly thing and attract bats to my garden here in the UK, I found this great and timely article with some great ideas to increase the bat population and control those mosquitoes or gnats.
Although the article refers to enjoying outdoors in the US I’m sure it is just as appropriate to incorporate the same ideas in the UK or anywhere else in the world.
Spring is just around the corner, and very soon we will be able to start enjoying the great outdoors again. However, in most areas of North America, uncontrolled mosquitoes will wreak havoc on your outdoor activities.
Depends on what time of year you are reading this post but mosquitoes are able to survive through winters more and more due to climate change and warmer temperatures…. and mosquitoes or gnats as we call them here in the UK have plagued many areas in 2012 due to a very very wet year. Karen
One of the most effective and environmentally friendly ways to control the mosquito population near you is to install a bat house. A small bat can eat hundreds of mosquitoes in a single hour. As the weather warms up, bats will leave their hibernation and start looking for new summer homes. With the ongoing land development for housing, commercial buildings, and roads, bats are losing more of their natural habitats every year. (That’s why it is very important to do a bat survey before you start your build!) A properly built and installed bat house can be a great home for our insect-eating friends for many years.
I have bat house installation on my to do list for next spring. They are especially needed now that I have just added large garden pond and bog area into my garden. Karen
UF bat colony leaves Bat House and Bat Barn at dusk
There are a lot of negative myths about bats, but the truth is that bats are among humanity’s most valuable allies.
Bats are the main predators of night-flying insects, and they play a vital role in maintaining the balance of nature. And by eating millions of mosquito-sized insects every summer, bats are also a tremendous help in reducing the use of toxic pesticides and in controlling the spread of the West-Nile virus.
Bats are not blind, in fact, they can see as well as you and me. In the dark, they use echolocation, which is like an internal sonar system that allows them to fly at top speed and catch insects without crashing into other objects. And bats are actually very clean animals that spend a lot of their time grooming their fur to keep it soft and silky. Bats will not disturb backyard feeding birds, and they will stay away from children and pets. It rarely happens, but if you have ever been “buzzed” by a bat, it probably just ate the mosquitoes that were getting ready to bite you’
Well it’s great to know that bats won’t crash into us. I really love to watch them swooping around and it’s amazing to think just how many mosquitos they are catching. Perfect circle of life isn’t it? Karen
By putting up a bat house you will help with bat preservation by giving them a safe home.
You will also directly benefit from having fewer mosquitoes and other insect pests, and you will enjoy learning about bats and sharing your knowledge with your family and friends. Watching bats can provide you with great back yard entertainment.
However, not all bat houses are built properly. When choosing a bat house, make sure it is certified by Bat Conservation International’s (BCI) Bat Approved Certification Program. Through many years of research, BCI has developed 10 criteria that are essential for bat houses to become “Bat Approved”, which means they are suitable for and preferred by North American bats. Bats are very picky about their homes. Short and stout or narrow houses have a very little chance of attracting bats, where longer, wider houses usually are very successful. Installing a cheaper bat house that won’t attract any bats is a waste of your time and your money. Certified Bat Houses meet or exceed all 10 criteria as outlined by the Bat Conservation International (BCI) Bat Approved Bat House Certification Program and are best for attracting bats and maintaining bat habitation.
Install a Certified Bat House now so you can control the mosquito population near you and really enjoy your outdoor activities pest-free this year. Installation can usually be done in less than one hour, so go ahead and provide a safe home for a colony of bats that will reward you by eating the millions of mosquitoes in your area.
Scott Miller loves bats and hates mosquitoes. He is the owner of http://www.certifiedbathouses.com which provides bat houses that are certified by Bat Conservation International’s (BCI) Bat Approved Certification Program, and are proven to attract bats and maintain bat habitation. Certified bat houses are homes to hundreds of bat colonies in North and South America. You may contact the author via email to batman@certifiedbathouses.com.
About Sue Jenks
Me and mosquito’s have a hate – hate relationship especially since I once worked in Africa and have on several occasions been a victim of malaria.
If we consider todays climate change and the fact that the mosquitos that carry malaria may very soon be swarming over here in the UK and other countries that haven’t yet had the displeasure of these swarms then we should all befighting to help bats and amphibians,dragonflies,swifts and swallows that will help keep the numbers down. But we are turning a blind eye to dwindling numbers of our beneficial creatures and just not doing enough.
You can read more about bat conservation and amphibian conservation here and do something to help
I’ve heard that spiders are realy good when you have problem with mosquitoes, because they eat them.
then we should be building houses for all species. The midges are also an important food source for birds too so we should all be doing everything we can now to invite as many species that can enjoy this sumptuous dinner every day.
a good idea to help keep the food supply of gnats is to have garden ponds for larvae to hatch out.
Mind you I think the purpose of this post is to get rid of gnats??? and here we are creating a whole food chain. :-)
Hi Karen, you’ve shared a very helpful info here. This sounds great. I wonder if this is applicable to all countries. Or maybe different countries have different designs. Hopefully this is available to all.
Thanks for your article. I am planning to establish new mosquito trap shop so it is nice to read this kind of stuff. Great idea to get more bats in the garden. if everyone had bat boxes there would be millions less gnats or mosquitos :).
-Hating mosquitos
Oh good luck to you Samuel. As long as the traps dont catch other innocent creatures like moths and butterflies and bees than you will be onto a good thing for sure. But at the end of the day you cant beat letting nature take care of things and so making sure the bats are helped will soon sort out the mosquitoes. Win win again eh?