Laois Moon Gardens - Gardening for Pollinators

Creating a Bat-Friendly Garden: Plants, Insects and Conservation

The workshop will explore how gardens can support bats by encouraging the insects they rely on for food.
We'll begin with a simple overview of the food web, showing how plants support insects, which in turn provide food for bats. We'll look at three common bat feeding strategies:

- Catching insects in flight
- Sweeping insects from vegetation
- Feeding over ponds and waterways

Next, we will discuss the variety of nocturnal insects found in gardens, including moths, midges, craneflies and lacewings, and why they are such an important food source for bats.

The session will cover year-round garden management to create habitats for both bats and their insect prey.