Barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > terrestrial mammal > Bat |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | Western Barbastelle |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Barbastella barbastellus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Schreber, 1774) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Mathews & Harrower, 2020 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | GB and England status is vulnerable. A recent paper (Razgour et al. 2024) provides the demographic history analysis which shows that British barbastelle populations have declined by 99% over the past 330-548 years. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species has specific tree roosting needs not considered as standard in conservation management of woodland. It requires trees that have features of aging or damage that barbastelle can exploit as roosts such as loose bark and splits or cracks. It requires a succession of trees that exhibit these features over time. It requires complex structural woodland including a good understorey layer. Additionally, it has foraging needs that incorporate wider habitats beyond woodland such as such as wet grassland, unimproved grassland, marsh and coastal grassland. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Barbastelle maternity colonies depend on ancient broad-leaved woodland with good structure and plant species diversity with good connectivity to the wider landscape. Barbastelles favour roosts under loose bark and are associated with woodland with a high proportion of standing deadwood or trees that are damaged or over-mature. The availability of successional roosts in trees is important for the species. Any long term woodland creation and appropriate woodland management, including retention of dead/dying trees would benefit the species Wood pasture, parklands, wetlands, unimproved grasslands, hedgerows and tree lines are important for foraging. Any management that increases habitat quality and insect abundance and diversity (particularly small moths, flies and beetles) will be beneficial in providing increased availability of quality foraging habitat. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Ongoing legal protection of roosts is vital to prevent extinction. This species is relatively well understood but only now is a method to monitor (in line with the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP) for other species) being investigated. But enough is understood about this species to know what its key needs are in terms of roosting, foraging and commuting in the landscape. There is good potential to act on the needs of this species. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Implement standard monitoring approach. A project is currently underway to develop a national barbastelle population monitoring survey (BCT and VWT The work will be completed by Oct 2026. The next vital step that this action represents will be implementing this as a standard and widespread approach across its range in Britain. This will allow a much improved insight into the changing population trends of this species.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Roll out and update woodland management guidance and training for this species as part of the woodland suite of species. Appropriate woodland and tree management that takes into account the specific roosting and foraging needs of this species, which often fails to be considered in standard conservation woodland management - including SACs if acceptable. This includes veteranisation techniques where more work is required in the UK and which can help with current and successional availability of roosts.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: SACs for this species
Comments: National for this species relates to its range, which is not all of England. The veteranisation approach is also applicable to the recovery of noctule and Bechstein's bat below and the foraging needs for Bechstein's bat, brown long-eared bat and lesser horseshoe bat.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Promote appropriate management of non-woodland foraging habitats and commuting routes in this species range. This applies to SACs but also in general management considerations across their range. It might be found that general good practice for wider habitat and landscape management will suffice, but this needs to be trialled and other matters, such as fragmentation due to lighting and lack of woodland cover, reviewed in line with recent research findings for the cause of this species decline.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Advice & support
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: SACs for the species
Comments: Addressing the impacts of the landscape around woodland SACs is vital. The learning from this can then be applied across their range.
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.