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<p>The £3.8m funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund that was secured in 2018,
enabled not just one survey, but a five-year Bats in Churches partnership project
made up of the Church of England, Natural England, Historic England, the Bat Conservation
Trust, and the Churches Conservation Trust.</p><p>The project is working with ecologists,
church architects, heritage experts and church communities to support and develop
bespoke solutions for around 120 churches struggling with unsustainable bat roosts
across the country. Churches that are part of the project are continuously monitored
to ensure there is no damage to the bat populations. Additionally, a nationwide volunteer-led
four-year survey, the ‘Bats in Churches Study’ is to be launched this summer and will
give an in-depth picture of how bats are using Church of England churches and the
attitudes of churchgoers towards them.</p><p>The Bats in Churches project is now in
its second year and can report the delivery of three successful mitigation works in
some of the worst affected churches, in Braunston-in-Rutland, Tattershall and Swanton
Morley. These three schemes have enabled congregations and the wider community to
co-exist harmoniously alongside the bats and for church heritage to be respected.</p><p>Other
projects nearing completion include:</p><ul><li>St Pega’s Church Peakirk, following
a lead theft that has enabled bat mitigation to be incorporated into the re-roofing
repair work.</li><li>St John the Baptist Church in Cold Overton is similarly incorporating
bat mitigation into its repairs.</li></ul><p>Support for churches sheltering bats
is available from the Bats in Churches project who are running events to build networks
of volunteers, links to bat and heritage groups and specialist cleaning workshops
and advice.</p><p> </p>
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