Building boxes for bats

Almost 30 land for wildlife members recently spent their morning building nest boxes for microbats.

Building boxes for bats

Article by Danielle Outram, conservation partnerships officer, Sunshine Coast Council

Almost 30 land for wildlife members recently spent their morning building nest boxes for microbats. Nest box pioneers, Alan and Stacey Franks, delivered a fascinating workshop on the value of hollows for wildlife and the development of artificial hollows through the years. Like many other hollow dependant fauna, microbats have really suffered with habitat clearing resulting in losses of small hollows and crevices where they can roost. Fortunately after much trial and error, Alan and Stacey were able to design a microbat nestbox that could be utilised by microbats within a week of installation.

After a delicious morning tea, participants built a microbat nest box of their own to take home. Alan described a number of ways to make simple nest boxes from recycling everyday items. What a great morning all round, resulting in a number of homes being installed for Sunshine Coast microbats.

If you are interested in building a microbat next box to install around your home or property, check out the plan/design provided here on Hollow Log Homes website.