WW2 Pillboxes to be bat 'hang-outs'

World War II pillboxes are being converted into homes for bats, after more than 60 years of disuse.
The Stour Valley Project (SVP) is planning to start work on Wednesday on the first of 10 pillboxes along the River Stour in Essex and Suffolk.

The bunkers are being turned into caves where bats can hibernate during the winter, in a £5,000 project.

Pillboxes run the length of the Stour, which in 1940 formed a key defensive line against an expected invasion.

Peter Ennis, the SVP's landscape and biodiversity officer, said the pillboxes should be a good place for bats to hibernate because they "keep a fairly constant temperature and in the winter act rather like a cave".

"In the winter bats need somewhere to hibernate where the temperature is constant and the humidity is high. There aren't a lot of caves in East Anglia and we don't really know where bats do hibernate," he said.

Checking temperature

"They are structures which, because they are either buried or very substantial, keep a fairly constant temperature and in the winter act rather like a cave."

The shelters will be fitted with steel doors to prevent people getting in and disturbing the hibernating bats and the gun ports will be bricked up to help keep the temperature inside just right.

Finally, the bunkers' smooth internal concrete walls will be fitted with purpose built bricks and blocks, filled with nooks and crannies for the sleepy bats to crawl into or hang from.

Mr Ennis said: "We are putting computerised data loggers into the pillboxes to see what the temperature and humidity are like and if we don't get what we want we can do modifications."

It is hoped the pillboxes will be ideal hibernation conditions for the bats, including the Barbastelle, Natterers and Brown Long-Eared species.


From the BBC website.

Uk Pillboxes and Invasion Defences

 

Good news; at least they're doing something more constructive with pillboxes than just flattening them.

 

Personally I think they should just make them historical exhibits but hey it's better than letting them rot.

 

Gordon,

I think you are correct about the historical exhibits, but you cannot make all of them such. Take a very good example of one and make that an historical exhibit and do something constructive with the rest of them.

Many people might not like bats but they are very valuable in the eco system. I remember years ago when I was a member of the American Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. In one magazine they had a massive article about bats and how to construct a bat box, a rather large hotel that you placed on the back of a building. I took it home to my father who lived in Wisconsin on his small farm. He lived near a river and during the summer they couldn't stay outside in the evenings because of the mosquitos. So my father built one of these and put it on the back of his barn. First thing that happened was the bats in his house attic moved out and into the bat box. Before long he had a thriving colony. He would invite other farmers over for a weekend BBQ and they would be out all night with the bats just zipping around catching the mosquitos. My father built 5 or 6 more bat boxes for other farmers to hang on the back of their barns. Fight nature with nature rather than pesticides.

Bob

 

Bob,
I think that was actually Miller's post you caught! I live in the country myself, so have nothing against bats.
The historical exhibits idea is good too; there were about ten or so different types of pillbox, so find the best of each and make it a listed building.

 

I can see that pillboxesuk is going to regret he ever mentioned bats ; this thread threatens to veer off at an unexpected tangent !

On a serious note, and to put Bob's mind at rest, all bats are now protected by law in the UK : -

http://www.naturenet.net/law/bats.html

NB : No bats were harmed in the making of this thread... ( )

 

Sorry Gordon... poor eyesight in the morning before the first cup of coffee...

I like bats... but you know not everybody does and they evoke mixed reactions. Didn't mean to get the thread off track.

Yes, by all means protect some of them as historical buildings.

Bob

 

...Or archaeologists!

No worries, Bob.

 

Here is some more uses for bomb shelters... this is one in Hamburg (Hamburg Heiligen Geistfeldflak):





Turned into apartments for people... These are what the four flak towers in Berlin looked like before they were blown apart. There were two in the zoo area. The one in Hombolthian (I think that is how you spell it), is still there but on one side the earth has been raised to the top of it. It can only be seen from the other side.

Bob

 

That is one heck of a Flak tower! That is huge. It sure does make a good building for other things though.