Bats are a fascinating and diverse group of species, it is important that we protect them and try do our own little bit to help them survive the damage we have caused to their natural habitats. We spoke to Professor John Altringham, a leading bat expert at the University of Leeds to ask him some questions about the current situation with bats and advice on how we can do our own bit to help:

“We should protect bats for no reason other than the fact we should. They are fascinating creatures whose pure intrigue makes them worth protecting and have every right to live without even considering any of the other advantage they provide.”

Bats make up a part of several ecosystems and the knock on consequences of the removal of bats could be disastrous to biodiversity. In addition to this bats even provide economic advantages; a 2011 study gave an estimate of bats contribution to the US economy through pest control of $23 billion a year.

The largest factor effecting bats at the moment are those caused by humans. “Destruction, degradation and fragmentation of their habitat are the main pressures acting on bats. We are constantly chipping away at them, reducing the area and quality of habitat available to them.” As a result of the damage we have caused some species of UK bats are down to only a few % of the population that existed a hundred years ago.

It is often thought that individuals can’t have much of an impact on issues spanning such wide areas however studies have proven that a diverse urban or sub-urban habitat can have great beneficial implications on helping maintain biodiversity and conservation of species. So, how can you do your bit to help?

Make your garden a haven for insects

To help bats you need to provide them with food, by attracting a range of insects to your garden, not only will you help increase the biodiversity of your garden, it will provide a range of potential food for bats.

•  Use a range of plants including night scented species to attract night flying insects.

Evening Primrose:

Image source: http://www.aromaoilstore.com/files/product/small/Evening%20Primrose%20Oil.jpg

Jasmine:

Image source: http://www.behindthename.com/imagebank/images/jasmine.jpg

Honeysuckle:

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesioc/3602897541/

·         A water feature or pond is also great for encouraging insects to settle in your garden as many insect species require pools of water to lay eggs in. Do not have fish in the pond though, these will eat any insect larvae and defeat the purpose of having the pond.

·         Don’t use pesticides, this may seem obvious but they reduce the available prey for bats and some pesticides can harm bats if they eat insects that are affected by the pesticides.

Keep it dark

Bats are primarily nocturnal, so use light in a sensitive way. Try to keep light levels low and not pointed at areas the bats are likely to use. Obviously you will need a bit of light to be able to enjoy the garden yourself but try to make it a compromise between you and the bats.

Bat boxes

In urban areas bat boxes are very difficult to get to work. The bats have plenty of options for places to roost in the surrounding buildings. If there aren’t a many buildings around to act as roosts then the best option to try is a large multi-chambered bat house that is positioned as high up as possible.

If you incorporate these features to your garden the most likely bats you would attract in urban areas would be the common and soprano pipistrelles. These are the smallest bats found in the UK weighing somewhere between 3.5 to 8.5 grams. Even though they are tiny bats they can eat up to 3,000 insects each in a single night. They fly very erratically close to buildings and trees.

In more fringe urban and suburban areas you may find other bat species like brown long-eared bats, natterer’s bats, noctule and Daubenton’s bats. Potentially others of the 18 resident British bat species could visit your garden but these are the most likely.

So let’s get gardening and doing our part to help with bat conservation. Let us know how your attempts at making a bat friendly garden go!

Sources

http://www.bats.org.uk/index.php

Boyles, J. G. et al. (2011) Economic Importance of Bats in Agriculture, Science, Vol 332, Pages 41-42.                                 

Here is the Tiger Sheds Guide to some of the best Garden and Flower Shows in 2013.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Date – 21^st – 25^th May 2013

Venue – Royal Hospital, London SW3 4SR

Ticket info  – click here

Description –  The Chelsea Flower Show is the most famous flower show in the UK and 2013 sees it in its 100^th year!  With 550 exhibitors displaying everything from garden furniture, to natural swimming pool construction, there really is something for everyone.

Find out more about RHS Chelsea Flower Show  

Image source: http://www.royalgardenhotelblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/chelsea-flower-show.jpg

Hertfordshire County Show

Date – 25^th & 26^th May 2013

Venue – The Showground, AL3 7PT

Ticket info – click here

Description – Herefordshire County Show is a family fun day out, comprising of a wide range of entertainment. There’s plenty to see and do for children, from the ‘Festival Circus’, to ‘Imps Motorcycle Display team’. Also, Jason Smyth will be bringing his ‘Adrenaline Tour’ to the show, expect dangerous, awe inspiring aerial tricks from the former Championship Moto Cross rider.

Find out more about Hertfordshire County Show

Country Fair at Bicton College

Date – 15^th June 2013

Venue – Bicton College,
East Budleigh,
Budleigh Salterton,
Devon,
EX9 7BY

Ticket info – click here

Description – This country show is an excellent fun-filled event for all the family, with a large range of activities taking place throughout the day.

There’s live music, hovercraft rides, a dog show  and much, much more!

Bicton College County Fair is the perfect mix of education and fun.

Find out more about Bicton College

Gardeners’ World Live

Date – 12^th – 16^th June 2013

Venue - NEC Birmingham, B40 1NT

Ticket info – click here

Description – Also incorporating the RHS Flower Show Birmingham, Gardener’s World Live, fuses show gardens, well known experts presenting and live music.

Food options are extensive, including the ‘MasterChef Restaurant’, where a pre-booking will ensure you are treated to a high-end lunch and also the ‘Food on the Go’ sections which can be found throughout the show. If a picnic is more your style, ‘Picnic Hill’ is the perfect place to take some time out for a relaxing family meal, overlooking the show gardens.

Find out more about Gardeners’ World Live

Image source: http://www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com/

Woburn Abbey Garden Show

Date – 22^nd & 23^rd June 2013

Venue – Woburn Park, Bedfordshire MK17 9WA

Ticket info – click here for 10% online reduction

Description – A garden show for gardeners of all levels and interests. Well known gardening personalities, Diarmuid Gavin and Pippa Greenwood, have been invited along to demonstrate and take part in a Q+A panel session.

Other entertainment comes in the form of live music and refreshments.

Find out more about Woburn Abbey Garden Show           

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Date – 9^th – 14^th July 2013

Venue – Hampton Court Palace, KT8 9AU

Ticket info  – click here

Description – Hampton Court Palace is a fabulous setting for a flower show and is an exciting alternative to the Chelsea Flower Show. Tickets are easier to get hold of and you’ll see a completely different variety of flowers in bloom to that on display at the CFS, which is held in Spring. Another bonus is that gardeners can actually buy flowers at this event.

The Hampton Court Flower Show is now the World’s largest flower show!

Find out more about RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Harrogate Autumn Flower Show

Date – 13^th – 15^th Sept 2013

Venue– Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 8NZ

Ticket info – click here

Description – Harrogate Flower Show occurs both in Spring and Autumn and is often regarded as the most prestigious UK offering. Held at the Great Yorkshire Showground, it plays host to show gardens, garden shopping, garden art, an extensive food and catering area and much, much more.  There’s fun for children in the shape of nature trails, quizzes and colouring workshops, with a photography competition for adults.

Find out more about Harrogate Flower Show

Landscape Show

Date – 24^th & 25^th Sept 2013

Venue – Battersea Park, SW11

Ticket info – register for free tickets

Description – This is a trade event for professionals working in the landscaping sector; architects, interior designers etc.

The event displays cutting edge techniques and new technology, relevant to the sector and is a must for anyone wanting to keep up to date with immerging practices.

Find out more about Landscape Show

RHS London Harvest Festival Show

Date – 8^th – 9^th October 2013

Venue – RHS Lindley Hall, Elverton Street, London SW1P 2PE

Ticket info  – click here

Description – This is a festival for growers to show off their produce. There’s competitions, tasting and live music. There are also plenty of opportunities to pick up your seeds for the next planting season.

Find out more about RHS London Harvest Festival

Image source: http://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-london-flower-shows/rhs-london-autumn-harvest-show

Let us know in the comments if you have plans to attend any of these events, and which ones you're looking forward to the most!

Ash trees were first recorded dying in large numbers from what is now believed to be ash dieback in Poland in 1992; from here it quickly spread to other European countries. Despite this rapid spread it took until 2006 before Chalara fraxinea, the fungus’ asexual stage, to be described by scientists. The sexual stage of the fungus, Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus, was only described as recently as 2010.  Originally the disease was thought to have entered Britain on plants from nurseries based in Continental Europe; but older trees that appear to have no relation to trees supplied by nurseries have been found with the disease in East Anglia, Kent, and Essex. This could mean the disease made its way to Britain by natural means; such as spores being carried on the wind, or birds flying into Britain from Europe; the infection could even have been spread unwittingly by humans carrying it on their clothes or vehicles, although the probability of this is low.

In February 2012 a batch of trees coming from the Netherlands to a nursery in Buckinghamshire was confirmed to be infected. In October of the same year it was confirmed a small number of cases in Norfolk and Suffolk had been found in the wider natural environment, including woodland with no ties to supplied nursery stock. From here the disease rapidly spread throughout woodland in Britain, with 462 confirmed cases as of April 2013. However in late March scientists from the John Innes Centre teamed up with a group of Danish researchers to try and quell the disease by breeding two seemingly resistant trees found in Denmark, providing a glimmer of hope for the future of British woodland.

General Information

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6abl5v (List of pests and diseases in the UK)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20171524 (Ash dieback spotters guide)

http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/env_services/trees/ash_dieback.htm (Wrexham County Borough Council's advice on the disease)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22449-are-europes-ash-trees-finished.html?full=true (New Scientist’s introduction to the disease)

http://www.staff.mmu.ac.uk/manmetlife/news/view/ash-disease-catastrophe-for-uk-biodiversity (Dr Robin Sen of Manchester Metropolitan University highlighting the seriousness of the disease)

http://www.cabi.org/isc/?compid=5&dsid=108083&loadmodule=datasheet&page=481&site=144 (Information about the disease, including European distribution information) 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21937163 (News story about the government’s plan to plant 250,000 ash trees to help find a resistant gene)

http://www.rfs.org.uk/node/964 (The Royal Forestry Commissions reaction to the £1.5 million research project to identify chalara resistant trees)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/forestry/9962602/How-trees-35-and-18-could-enable-fight-back-against-ash-dieback.html (The discovery of two trees that are seemingly resistant to the fungus)

http://www.forestpathology.ethz.ch/research/Chalara_fraxinea/index_EN (Images of the fungus and how the symptoms manifest themselves in ash trees) 

http://www.fraxback.eu/ (The website of a multinational group of scientists sharing knowledge to help understand and sustainably manage the disease)

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS_FP7&ACTION=D&DOC=1&CAT=NEWS&QUERY=013e315fb6fb:8489:20e81abf&RCN=35666 

(Information from the European Commision about a new detection system)

http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2013/ash-240413 (Edinburgh Scientists predict the disease could destroy enough ash trees to fill Wembley stadium 16 times over)

http://www.floralocale.org/Ash+news (Background into the disease, as well as tree planting and the plant trade)

http://www.britishlichensociety.org.uk/about-lichens/habitats-conservation/ash-chalara-dieback-and-lichens (The implications for lichens as ash dieback spreads)

The Governments Management Plan

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chalara-management-plan

http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb13936-chalara-management-plan-201303.pdf

http://treedisease.co.uk/2013/03/26/rising-from-the-ashes-reaction-to-ash-dieback-management-plan/ (The Woodland Trust’s reaction to the management plan)

Nordic and Baltic Information

http://www.nbforest.info/factsheets/ash-trees-can-survive-emerging-infectious-die-back-disease

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=da&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.naturstyrelsen.dk%2FNyheder%2F2012%2Fasketoptoerre.htm (Translated from Danish)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/9669165/Ash-dieback-the-ruined-Polish-forest-where-deadly-fungus-began.html (Article detailing how the disease has affected Polish forests)

Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf8fll_DWOM (A history of ash dieback)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1GpufLkBto (Life cycle and symptoms)

Information and Genomic Resources

http://oadb.tsl.ac.uk/ (A hub for crowdsourcing information)

Smartphone App to Report Infected Trees

http://goodjob.org.uk/ashtag/

Ever wondered why they call it a "Secret" garden? The reason stretches far beyond the mystery of their location. Plants all around us have been acting like humans and remain unsuspecting to the vast majority of us! Of what has been revealed from the dedicated research, there is still complex plant behaviour that just cannot be explained. Despite this, the advantages that certain behaviours bring to plants and their similarities with those of humans, may present opportunities to justify some of our own behaviours, be they good or bad.

According to Plants it's ok to...

...Talk to Yourself, as Long as there are Plants Around

It's no secret that plants possess an extraordinary ability to communicate with each other. In fact the green thumbs of the world, including his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, have even cultivated the art of conversing with plants themselves. Research has suggested that certain types of sound wave may possibly interfere with the normal activity of some plant genes. Comparing sound exposure and the lack of it to pea plants revealed that the stimulus of sound might actually lead to greater plant mass. While certainly not conclusive just yet, this phenomenon remits the attention of keen gardeners and much more research from botanists.

...Fake an Illness

The "Elephant Ear" plant, which can be found in the everyday garden, mimics being ill to discourage mining moths from eating its otherwise healthy leaves. The process is known as Variegation and is commonly caused when plants lose their green chlorophyll cells, making them appear white. Naturally a plant lacking chlorophyll cells would have its ability to photosynthesise restricted and appear weak. Feigning this sickness detracts insect pests from eating plants and can strengthen their long-term success. So if it's photo day at school and an acne outburst leaves you resembling a variegated leaf, pulling a "sickie" might be an effective course of action.

A leaf damaged by mining moths (left) compared to one faking it (right)

Image source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8108000/8108940.stm

...Be Picky

Plants are very selective when it comes to choosing mates. They have a self-incompatibility system that helps them reject unwanted pollen. Often this is to avoid accepting the pollen of other species that can result in infertile off-spring or in some cases to avoid being fertilised by their own pollen. The tomato, tobacco, and egg plants have been subjected to the bulk of this research. While the reasons for the incompatibility system are understood, the understanding of it at a molecular level isn't. The mechanisms behind recognising wanted and unwanted pollen still remains a mystery. As humans, it seems we can take comfort in the fact that although our reasons for disqualifying someone as a potential mate may appear irrational and inexplicable, it just might serve us well in the long run!

...Be Shy

Mimosa Pudica, also known as the “touch-me-not” plant, is very shy to physical contact. In fact the slightest prod or gentle shake can cause it to close its leaves, and remain closed for up to half an hour! Its leaf cells react to pressure and transfer water to their adjacent cells. Cells with reduced water levels lose their strength in their cell wall causing the leaf to close. It is thought that this shy behaviour is used to surprise pests with their rapid change and scare them off. It just goes to show, sometimes being shy means being safe.

...Reach For the Sky!

If only metaphorically, this is another trait that humans and plants share in common. Plants grow up towards the sun to fuel their ever important process of photosynthesis. The plant hormone, auxin, promotes plant growth. It accumulates on the plant cells that are in the absence of light. Therefore the shaded side of a plant tends to grow faster than the side in the sunlight, causing the plant to grow towards the sun.  Their leaves which reach out to the sun can now photosynthesis and are rewarded with precious glucose, in contrast to fame and riches which humans may be rewarded with from reaching for the sky!

The personification of plant behaviour doesn't stop there either. There are plants that exist which have been known to cry out for help with chemicals, change their appearance to attract pollinators and even establish a neighbourhood watch!

Sources

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-478558/So-Charles-right--talk-plants-scientists-discover.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8108000/8108940.stm

http://www.aspb.org/PressReleases/mate_choice.cfm

http://www.kuriositas.com/2012/04/touch-me-not.html

http://www.vib.be/en/news/Pages/That-is-why-plants-grow-towards-the-light!.aspx