From here:
CANTERBURY, England — Bats are making life unbearable for congregations by defecating on worshippers from roofs as well as bell towers, according to a report to the Church Buildings Council of the Church of England.
It’s a shame the CofE doesn’t accept this as an expression of diversity; it’s just as well Canada has the solution.
From here:
Bats are destroying British churches, the Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Tony Baldry told Parliament. Speaking in response to a question from the member for Bury North, Mr. David Nuttall (Cons.) on the “ effects of bats in churches”, on 4 July 2013 Sir Tony said the “present situation” of 6400 churches infested with bats was “simply unsustainable.”
“A small number of bats living in a church can be manageable, but parish churches are finding an increasing number of bats taking up residence in large roosts. There are significant costs in financial and human terms to those who worship in these churches, and to the wider community,” he said.
[….]
He [Sir Tony Baldry] told the House [the] bat infestation was “not a joking matter…..”
I’m not laughing – really.
When I was in Britain around 15 years ago, I took a walk to Roath Park Lake close to where I used to live. To my surprise, I noticed a few Canada geese floating serenely on the water; “aren’t they lovely” someone next to me said. “Lovely”, I agreed with a smirk; apparently Canada had been exporting some of its excess wildlife. Just wait a few years when they have gone forth and multiplied and are pooping all over your well-manicured trails, I thought.
I’m sorely tempted to bring a few limey bats back to Canada and introduce them to the Anglican Church of Canada.
It seems that the Bat Conservation Trust has been successful in making the Church of England provide bats a safe space in which to hang – full inclusion for bats – by having churches install bat flaps in their stained glass windows.
It’s encouraging to see that there is at least one organisation that has a convincing perspective on an enduring purpose for English churches.
From here:
Bat conservation is damaging churches not just physically but financially and cannot be sustained, Environment Minister Richard Benyon MP was told today.
The cost of replacing one small piece of a leaded window, for example, increased from £5 using plain glass to £140 when fitting a lead ‘bat flap’ was required by the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) – four weeks’ collection in the rural parish church of Wiggenhall, St Germans.
Leaving interpretation of the law on bat conservation largely to the BCT is bringing the European Habitats Directive into disrepute to the detriment of endangered species more generally, warned a Church of England delegation led by Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Tony Baldry MP, with representatives of Natural England.
“I remain puzzled as to why our churches are treated as if they were uninhabited barns. They are not,” said the Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of Norwich.
