Tree roost designs

Want to know more about our tree roost designs? You are in the right place. 

Read this first

We created these tree roost designs to help two rare tree-dwelling bat species; Barbastelle and Bechstein’s. Like many bats, these species have witnessed a dramatic decline due to anthropogenic pressures on their habitats. One study estimates that populations have declined by 99% over the last few hundred years. 

To investigate whether we could create new bat roosts in living trees, we set up a study. In our previous blog post, we share the initial findings from the first five months of monitoring. The initial findings are promising, suggesting that this technique has it’s place in mitigation and compensation schemes. 

However, this technique is not a panacea; it is just one tool in the toolbox. Sites and trees need to be selected carefully. Professional arborists need to be engaged. Tree risk needs to be considered. If you are recommending to use these techniques, you need to work with a specialist.

Roost designs

Whilst, Barbastelle and Bechstein’s are both tree-specialists, they have very different tastes when it comes to trees. Barbastelle is a crevice-dweller (preferring narrow features) whereas Bechstein’s is a void-dweller (preferring more space). We took average dimensions from the Bat Tree Habitat Key database and created the following designs. For each species, we created two different designs. 

Barbastelle Instant roost design & Future roost design.

Bechstein’s Instant roost design & Future roost design

Instructional videos

Struggling to understand our tree roost designs, hopefully these videos will help. 

Huge thanks to

This study would not have been possible without our funders People’s Trust for Endangered Species, the Arboricultural Association and STIHL.

Thanks to Wayne from Refresh Video Productions for creating these instructional films. And thanks to Mark from Sharples Tree Services for skillfully operating the chainsaw.

Looking for someone to undertake roost creation work for a project?

Sean Shereston of Arbology has a track-record of delivering habitat creation projects. Being an experienced and arborist and ecologist he is well placed to lead on this type of work.