Country walk for bat fans

There are 16 species of bat in the UK

Bat lovers were flying to a country park in Lancashire on Sunday to watch the creatures in their natural habitat.

Preston City Council has teamed up with The Bat Conservation Trust for a special bat walk and presentation.

People can find out about how bats hunt for food, where they live and the large number of different species of the animals.

Visitors can also search for bats using sonar detectors during a guided night walk.

Veronica Afrin, a Lancashire county councillor, said: "The bat walk is part of our plans to put Preston's parks into the heart of the local community to make people realise what a valuable resource they have on their doorstep.

'Bat adventure'

"We've already used our parks as a green classroom and now we're using them as a wildlife education centre."

Joyce Gillies, of the Bat Conservation Trust, said: "Bats are amazing creatures, there's 980 different species around the world and 16 in the UK, so there's lots to learn about them and their environment.

"Grange Park's an ideal place for a bat walk - at our last walk we had over 50 people taking part, finding out more about bats.

"It's a fun and interactive way of finding out more about these helpful creatures so come down to our bat adventure evening."