Canals act as a “cross between the M1 and Tesco” for bats hit by an increasingly developed landscape, British Waterways said as it launched its annual wildlife survey yesterday.
The organisation, which cares for 2,200 miles of waterways across Britain, is asking the public to head down to their local canal, river, reservoir or dock to spot birds, animals and insects for the survey.
This year British Waterways is highlighting the plight of the country’s bats, which have seen numbers decline dramatically since the 1950s.
According to ecologists at the organisation, Britain’s wildlife is facing an increasingly fragmented landscape, with habitats such as woodlands, meadows, old parkland and reservoirs isolated between intensive agriculture and development.
Features such as canals and hedgerows act as “green corridors” between wildlife-rich areas.
And British Waterways said canals were particularly valuable to Britain’s 17 species of bats because they provided a dark, insect-rich habitat at night and structures such as bridges and aqueducts where the flying mammals can roost.
They provide a good alternative to highly-maintained modern buildings and landscaped parks which do not necessarily provide undisturbed places to roost such as old tree trunks or the eaves of roofs.
Mark Robinson, national ecology manager, said: “Intensive use of land for residential, commercial, transport or agricultural purposes has meant that vast areas of untouched habitat, rich in thousands of different species of plant and animal have been reduced in size and isolated from one another.
“The passage between these ‘islands’ has become an exhausting journey for the animals that have to cross them and makes them an easier target for predators.”
“For bats, canals are like a cross between the M1 and Tesco.
“Our 200-year-old bridges, aqueducts and tunnels provide ideal nooks and crannies for bats to roost in, while the high water quality and plant-rich channels ensure plenty of insects, which are bats’ only source of food.”
To take part in the wildlife survey people can visit www.waterscape.com.