Pupils from Stackpole VC Primary School and members of the local community will be lending National Trust staff a hand to create more roosting sites for local bats in a bat box making workshop held at the school next Tuesday. The bat boxes will then be fixed at various sites on the National Trust's extensive 806 hectare (1992.5 acre) Stackpole estate, which includes eight miles of cliff, headlands, beaches and sand dunes, elongated lakes, sheltered bays and mature woodlands. The estate is an important haven for bats - of the 16 species found in the UK, 11 are found at Stackpole, including the noctule, pipistrelle, daubentons, the lesser horseshoe, and extremely rare greater horseshoe bat. Angela Richmond, community liaison officer at Stackpole Estate, said: "The bat box making event is a fantastic way to get local people involved and interested in the wildlife that surrounds them, as well as making them feel they are part of the estate. The boxes will provide valuable roosting sites for bats, and we hope that many more of the furry friends will be drawn to this fantastic setting. "It is hoped that the children and their families will have the opportunity to help monitor the use of their own boxes later on in the year."
