National Highways' A30 barn now home to lesser horseshoe bats - with brown long-eared visitors

Brown long-eared bats are among the species recorded near the cottage Credit: CEC

Several bat species have been found in the vicinity of a cosy barn off the A30 in Cornwall.

The species found near the "bat barn" include lesser horseshoe, common pipistrelle, brown long-eared, and myotis bats.

It follows a conservation project by National Highways which involved building a bespoke house from Cornish slate and stone near the dual carriageway in 2022.

Lesser horseshoe bats have been roosting in the barn Credit: CEC

Early survey work had shown that the bats' commuting routes and habitats could be disrupted by the Chiverton to Carland Cross scheme to dual the road.

Now, two years on, lesser horseshoe bats are roosting in the building, with other species coming to visit. Its success means the bat barn will continue until 2032.

The barn's success means it will be extended until 2032 Credit: CEC

Meanwhile, 33 crossing points have also been created to help the journeys of bats, otters, badgers and reptiles.

Steve Marshall, principal bat ecologist at Cornwall Environmental Consultants, said: “We were delighted to see evidence of bats moving into the bat house last year, and even more pleased this year to record four species of bats, including lesser horseshoes, roosting for the first time.

“Bats can be difficult to mitigate for and typically take more time to colonise new roost sites, but they obviously feel comfortable using this one, and we know there are fairly healthy populations of this species in this part of Cornwall.

“We’ve noticed during our monitoring visits that existing bat roosts and activity along the corridor generally increased during 2024 when compared to 2023 and 2022, which reflects that the scheme corridor is starting to revegetate now the main dual carriageway is operational.”