{"id":260356,"date":"2025-11-03T19:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T19:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/260356\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T19:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T19:49:10","slug":"bats-move-in-to-converted-pumping-station-and-ww2-pillbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/260356\/","title":{"rendered":"Bats move in to converted pumping station and WW2 pillbox"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BournemouthBournemouth Water\/South West Water<\/p>\n

A soprano pipistrelle bat was identified at the former pumping station on 21 October<\/p>\n

A former pumping station and a World War Two pillbox have been converted into accommodation for bats in two separate projects.<\/p>\n

The old Bournemouth Water facility in Ferndown, Dorset, has been decked out with bat-friendly features including special tiles, bat boxes, baffles and a dormer fly-in entrance.<\/p>\n

The wartime bunker in Christchurch has been transformed by blocking up windows and installing a grille to protect bats from disturbance.<\/p>\n

The projects, by Bournemouth Water and South West Water and by Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP), aim to address habitat loss for the elusive mammals.<\/p>\n

\"BCPBCP Council<\/p>\n

A carved sculpture has been installed to highlight the work<\/p>\n

The conversion of the redundant 1980s pump building near Longham Lakes was completed in April and recent surveys confirmed its first residents – soprano pipistrelle bats – had moved in.<\/p>\n

The roost is designed for summer and winter use, with cool underground chambers for hibernation and warmer loft spaces and boxes for maternity colonies.<\/p>\n

Paul McNie, South West Water’s Sampling and Environmental Manager, said: “We like to think of this as a kind of bat house renovation project. <\/p>\n

“The old building was no longer serving its original purpose and was deteriorating, making it unsafe, so we’ve reimagined it as a safe space for wildlife.”<\/p>\n

The pillbox in Mudeford Wood once helped defend RAF Christchurch but, like the pumping station, has been transformed into a dedicated bat habitat, known as a hibernaculum.<\/p>\n

The area – a designated Site of Nature Conservation Interest – is already home to common pipistrelle, brown long-eared, and serotine bats.<\/p>\n

The project was financed by Heathland Mitigation Funding, paid by developers building near protected heathlands.<\/p>\n

\"BournemouthBournemouth Water\/South West Water<\/p>\n

The former pumping station in Ferndown has been given a new lease of life<\/p>\n

BCP’s climate response councillor Andy Hadley said the pillbox was at risk of being “lost to the community due to anti-social behaviour”.<\/p>\n

“It’s wonderful to see it given a new purpose – supporting our native wildlife whilst celebrating the site’s fascinating history,” he said.<\/p>\n

Local bat ecologist Colin Morris said: “Once the word gets around in the batty world, it’s likely to become a regular, long-term, safe and secure haven for them during the important hibernation period.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bournemouth Water\/South West Water A soprano pipistrelle bat was identified at the former pumping station on 21 October…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-260356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}