Build your own bat box and give a bat a safe place to roost. There are estimated to be more than 15 million gardens in the UK, covering an area greater than all of the UK’s nature reserves combined.

Bats are sensitive to smells and preservative chemicals may be harmful to them. The bat box should also be made from rough-sawn wood (rather than smooth, planed wood). It'll also need to have good, ...

Breckland District Council is due to decide on the proposals for the Abbey Estate at a later date. Residents at the Abbey Estate in Thetford hope bat boxes will stall development plans.

Email katherine.lawton@mailonline.co.uk Families opposed to major redevelopment plans on their estate have installed dozens of bat boxes in a bid to slow down building work by attracting the ...