Army creates new homes for bats

Creating new homes for the bats is part of an £8bn MoD project

Soldiers' homes on Salisbury Plain and in Aldershot are being fitted with bat bricks as part of an £8bn Ministry of Defence (MoD) rebuilding programme.

Project Allenby/Connaught which began in 2006 aims to renovate Victorian and Edwardian buildings bringing them up to modern standards.

Some of the barracks are home to populations of bats which roost in nooks and crannies in the brickwork.

The bat bricks contain cavities for the bats to move into.

Project Allenby/Connaught is providing modern living and working accommodation for some 18,000 military and civilian personnel in the Salisbury Plain and Aldershot Garrisons, in Hampshire.

More than 2,500 special bat bricks which have been designed to mimic the bats natural habitat of cracks and crevasses are being installed as part of the 35-year rebuilding scheme.

MoD spokesman Paul Munro said: "It is important we look after bats such as the brown long-eared and common pipistrelles.

"It is a huge project and we commission a survey by a licensed bat worker of every old buildings before it is demolished and make sure there are new bat roosts in the modern accommodation buildings to compensate."