Peachland, B.C., bats highlighted during International Bat Week

For decades, the attic of the Historic Schoolhouse in Peachland, B.C., has been home to a maternity colony of thousands of bats — Yuma myyotis and small brown bats.

“They are I think so valuable to the ecosystem and I think that’s something we have to get more information out there,” said Darlene Hartford, Bat Education & Ecological Protection Society director.

“In an evening in one hour, (a bat) will consume between 600 and 1,000 insects, so when you multiply that with our colony in the attic here… Peachland basically brags that we have no mosquitoes.”

This year for International Bat Week, the society is stretching its wings by teaching all who visit about bat-friendly plants.

Kim Bailey, a community garden volunteer, set up several displays showing the different kinds of plants that draw insects that bats feed on to come out to pollinate.

The society is also giving a lesson in lighting, to encourage a more bat-friendly community.

“We have done some research on lighting that would be bat-friendly and we did research on white lights, clear lights and red lights and what we found is that the red lights were more attractive to insects which of course makes it a little more bat-friendly,” said Heidi Slyngbom, Bat Education & Ecological Protection Society president.

Even though bats have made the news lately in relation to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Hartford says local bats do not pose the same risk.

“We have always had good reports on the bats in this colony we have never detected white-nose syndrome on the muzzle or anything so we are confident that we have healthy bats,” said Hartford.

B.E.E.P.S. will be celebrating International Bat Week from Oct. 24 to the 31 at the Peachland Visitor Centre in the Historic Schoolhouse. For more information, visit their website.

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