One of Britain's rarest bats is already flying over a Hertfordshire orchard

Barbastelle bats are already using the air above an old orchard in Hertfordshire, and the people who look after the land want to learn enough to keep them there. The BBC reported on October 28, 2026, that the Serge Hill Project, at Bedmond near Abbots Langley, is installing monitors after a 2024 survey recorded the species on site.

The barbastelle is one of Britain's rarest bats, known for a short, pug-like face and dark fur. It needs roosts and feeding grounds in woods and wetlands. Sam Radonich, of the project, said many people will never see one, which is why a local record matters. The same surveys also picked up seven other bat species. In Hertfordshire the barbastelle is especially hard to find. A maternity colony was discovered near Bishop's Stortford in 2012.

Affinity Water is supporting the new work, which will use tags and wildlife cameras to follow how the bats move. The gardens at Serge Hill already hold insects and other wildlife for visitors who come to learn about growing. Radonich said the hope is to find roosts and, in time, to have the bats stay rather than only pass over. That is a plan with a real starting point, the 2024 records, and it is not yet a count of a new colony.