USE OF LAMPLIT ROADS BY FORAGING BATS IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND

Roads illuminated by white streetlamps attracted three times more fora ging bats (mostly Pipistrellus pipistrellus) than did roads lit by ora nge streetlamps or unlit roads (3.2, 1.2 and 0.7 bat passes/km, respec tively). More insects flew around white lamps than around orange lamps (mean 0.67 and 0.083 insects per lamp, respectively). The mean number of bat passes recorded in any I-km section of road was positively cor related to the number of white streetlamps along the section, and also , independently, to the amount of trees and hedgerows. Bat activity wa s not related to the number of houses along the road, ambient temperat ure or cloud cover. The attractive effect of the lamps on the bats was diminished in windy weather.