Cash boost for bats

More than £250,000 has given to a new project that aims to protect rare bats across Somerset and Gloucestershire.

The Batscapes Project has been set up to preserve the endangered Horseshoe bat with the cash going to support a team of three specialists.

It is thought the number of horseshoe bats may have declined by as much as 90% over the past century.

The project is being run by Bath and North East Somerset Council in conjunction with South Gloucestershire.

In July 2002, National Trust officials said Tyntesfield House in Wraxall, near Bristol housed an important colony of the rare species.

Many of the buildings at the historic house were known to be good roosts for the bats, according to Phil Richardson, the trust's bat conservation officer.