A RARE long-eared bat has decided to make its home at the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife's Trust's Warburg (BBOWT) reserve.

A disused Territorial Army target pit was identified by BBOWT as perfect for bats, and over a two-year period has been converted into a bat roost, known as a hibernaculum.

Bats are notoriously choosy about their roosting places and the reserve did not expect any bats to make this new place its home for two to three years.

Nigel Phillips, senior reserves officer, said he was delighted and added: "Bats are not adventurous, so it's quite something for this bat to have found our hibernaculum. This has been an important project and attracting one bat so soon to a hibernaculum, that can potentially accommodate thousands shows that we may have got it just right."

Originally bats roosted in caves and trees but the decline of natural sites means many species now use man-made structures such as buildings and tunnels.