Rare bat on brink of UK extinction

One of the UK's rarest mammals, the grey long-eared bat is in danger of disappearing from the country, according to research.

A four-year study by scientists from the University of Bristol estimated there were 1,000 of the bats left - all confined to southern England.

The researchers are calling for the bats' foraging habitat to be protected.

The Bat Conservation Trust has published the findings in a new conservation management plan.

Dr Orly Razgour, who led the research, said that very little was known about the species before she started her study.

"The UK's grey long-eared bats need greater conservation efforts before we lose them," said Dr Orly Razgour Lead researcher

"We thought there might be more colonies, that it might be less rare than we suspected," she told BBC News.

"But after studying the species for four years, we realised that they are very rare.

"We also know that [it has] declined dramatically in the last century.

"We know of three maternity colonies [colonies where the female bats give birth and raise their young] that have disappeared in the past few decades."

Although the UK's grey long-eared bats have always been confined to the relatively warm south of England, they have now been squeezed into just a few fragmented colonies.

The bats are confined to small pockets along the south coast of England, including the Isle of Wight, with a small number found in the Channel Islands and a single one recorded in South Wales.

It is so rare, in fact, that BBC News was asked to keep the exact location of the colony we visited in Devon a secret, to avoid the bats being unnecessarily disturbed.

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