The Bats and Lighting Research Project aims to raise awareness of the issues associated with light pollution and bats and promote environmentally friendly behaviour. We do this at both individual and policy levels, working with local county councils to promote environmentally friendly lighting regimes as well as conducting public awareness activities to make people think about individual actions and changes that they can make.

The Bats and Lighting Research is now part of a bat audio trail installed at the Browns Folly Nature Reserve near Bath which is managed by Avon Wildlife Trust. The Podcast is installed at the reserve as part of the Bats for Bath Project which aims to educate people about bats and decribe the aspects of Bath's history which have enabled the area to become an excellent habitat for bats. You can listen to Dr. Emma Stone of the Bats and Lighting Research Project explain the B&L research and project results on the online podcast here by selecting Section 2: Management of B.F. and Bat Research.

The B&L Project held a stall at the Bristol Festival of Nature for the first time in 2010 and then again in 2011. The stall was well attended and we were able to give out hundreds of leaflets about bats, lighting and the project.

We engaged with the kids by conducting face painting, giving out B&L stickers and making bouncy bat hats which went down a storm.

We also took the opportunity to hand out questionnaires and engage in discussions about lighting issues in the local area.

Many people were suprised to learn of the ecological impacts that streetlights have and were very keen to support the project to help protect bats and biodiversity.