I was hit by a bat yet I may have broken the law.

[GentleOtter]

Last night a bat hit me on the head - the flying type, a pipistrelle.
Every year during the summer months our house is HOACHING with bats and despite putting mesh up at the windows they are always flying about crapping everywhere.
Is it against the law to catch them with a butterfly net and jam jar then evict them outside?
Yes, I know they are protected and we had informed the bat folk but there are hundreds of them - I cannot get the really leaky roof fixed because of the bats. We are not ALLOWED to mend the roof so have buckets and burst ceilings ...not great for a baby.
I have had to put a mosquito net over the baby's cot but when the light is on they CRAWL on the floor and have been known to hide in our clothes or on towels in the bathroom.
Any advice welcome.

GentleOtter
Chateau Freaky
Batsville

blimey!

have you tried getting help from the bat people? Not beng able to mend the roof and sharing the living area with bats sounds totally unreasonable and hazardous, I cannot imagine anyone expecting you to put up with this.

You could get a cat. Our cat's used to catch them and bring them into our new biuld.

bat people?

wot, like batman and batgirl?

or perhaps you need to put a call out for onebatmother?

Blimey. Have you spoken to bat conservation people?

where are they roosting? actually in your roof?

iirc you are not allowed to kill them as they are protected, and cannot have them moved at certain times of the year because of endangering young etc, but I think that you can have them moved at certain times, the same as you can with badgers. will go and find out and will return.

there's a bat helpline 24 hours, too - ring them now! and update us.

Cat sounds like a good idea. I'm all for protecting a species but you must be so frustrated.

Oh dear god, tis the stuff of nightmares.
A hospital i work in regularly has the feckers flying around, we have a big net and chuck them out!

The bat helpline sounds cool.

I love bats!

ewwww shudder - bats are my ultimate nightmare

how to get rid of bats

unfortunately though you'll have to wait a couple of months as they will likely have young soon.

Aagh - I couldn't bear bats in my house! Poor you. Wish I could offer help. Our bees in the living room don't seem so bad now.

bat help here too

Strangely I love bats they are just so cute. Pretty amazing little animals too.

Not sure id want them in my babies room though.

What about building some sort of shelter for them away from the house? Not sure if this would make a difference but it could be sort of a BATMOBILE home

I love Rats
I love Mice

Can there be anything cooler than Rats & Mice...........with wings!

LOL @ Batmobile Home. Picturing a Gypsy Caravan here!

Thank you all for your help and I will phone the helpline in a little while.
Last year I kept count of the bats which were evicted - 68 - this does not include the ones which flew out an opened window.
We have to turn our clothes inside out in the morning as it has been known to feel 'something move' a few minutes after jeans or a jumper have been pulled on. Oh, I have the willies thinking about it.
One night I tried to count them when they came pouring out of the eaves and it was well over two hundred then they started coming out too fast.
We hear them shuffling about in the loft and I bet there is a mountain of 'guano' up there too.
Honestly, give it an hour and guaranteed my daughter will be shouting 'Baaaaat '....

help here too

Oh I know but as usual i'm feeling stupid and can't help myself...

Mwahaha WS.

Only two this evening so far....

The helpline is for England so I will maybe phone the Scottish one in the morning. A neighbour has told me that they can be a bit arsey though and count them in and out and generally be a bit difficult.
AND they tramp through your house looking for them.
AND the house is like a tip...

what a load of rubbish i hate bats they are horrid things!
would smoke them out wouldnt care if i was breaking the law humans should come before any animal!
sorry if anyone doesnt agree but thats how i feel.

Much sympathy, GentleOtter, but can I just say I'm totally envious of you for being able to use the phrase "our house is hoaching with bats" - it has such a lovely ring to it - I'm now desperately trying to figure out how I can work it into conversation here. Bit tricky as our house, sadly, isn't hoaching with bats.

GentleOtter, I was a batworker. You can get your roof fixed but you need permission from English Nature who will tell you how to do it without harming the bats. I know it is a pain and inconvenient. And you are in Scotland, I think and I don't know the Scottish version of EN.

When they leave your house for their hibernation site (end of the summer), you can go up and remove the bat poo (it isn't dangerous to humans and is dry so doesn't smell). You can put it on a compost heap/ the garden and put polythene down to protect the floor if you want to.

How are they getting into your house so much? They usually try to avoid contact with humans.

I know it's little consolation, but they are eating TONS of insects that would otherwise be plaguing you.

Please remember when you call a helpline, you are calling someone's home. I used to get calls all night long from random people who thought they may possibly have seen a bat

A batworker

sheesh but that's cool

My dad is the local Batman

BATMOBILE home lucyellensmum !!