Dear Readers Wishing you a happy and batty new year!

We are raring to go and even have a small grant. So do not hesitate if you have bats in your garden or if one strays into your home to contact us.

We can come to your place with our bat detector and you are guaranteed some exciting times listening to the amazing clicks emitted by the bats with their wonderful echolocation systems.

We can also give a talk to your club or association on Cyprus Bats. And we are really happy to visit schools with our presentation, books, posters and FOB stickers. A great way to learn about the mammals of Cyprus.

We can also conduct a fun bat walk if you gather some friends together and know where there are bats in your locality. How do you like our new funky bat kindly designed for us by Cypriot artist Katerina. And our bat story written by your truly is due to be published soon in Greek, English and Turkish with beautiful illustrations by Jenifer Klepfer.

We really appreciate these talented people using their gifts to help us to teach children to value what is left of our natural heritage. The RSPCA rehabilitate bats at their centre in Cheshire. They recently announced the results of some interesting research. Tiny radio tags were attached to the backs of released rehabilitated pipistrelles.

The results were startling. Bats which were simply released died, or had to be taken back in. However, bats that spent 21 days in an outdoor flight cage did survive. So please remember to get active on behalf of your chiropteran neighbours. Get in touch and lets get some batty business going in your neighbourhood. Patricia is co-founder of Animal Responsibility Cyprus www.animalscyprus.org