Post photo: bats | © Shutterstock
Bats were already around 50 million years ago in Heilbronn. Until recently, up to 25 different species of bats flew through our nights.
As a child I liked to play with my friends at Europaplatz; At that time there were very impressive trees with caves in the upper floors, which probably served as accommodation for entire bat colonies. We could always observe numerous bats circling between our heads.
Then these trees, as well as the associated soccer field, had to give way to a parking lot and the bats became a rarity.
A few years later, when we moved back to Heilbronn, I was very happy that there were older trees in our neighborhood and that these probably also served as shelter for bats.
Until a few weeks ago, it was always a pleasure when bats made their rounds in our courtyard in the evening. Now that's over too. Unfortunately, the last larger trees in our neighborhood had to give way to the excavators, who ensure that our neighborhood is further densified. These trees weren't even on the proposed site — they would have blocked some new residents' view of other new buildings and their residents.
What happened to the last bats in our neighborhood will probably not interest anyone else besides me.
A portrait of native bat species
This website of the Nature Conservation Union (NABU) gives a good overview of what could fly through the night in our country if we paid a little more attention to our old trees.