Sir, - Obviously, Kevin Myers (June 1st) is "bats" about bats. I'm not. As a youngster, living in the country in the 1940s in an old farmhouse, I and other children in the family were terrified of bats. A bat would appear mysteriously in the dead of night, from above the ceiling where no one ever ventured. There was pandemonium and that domestic emergency had to be sorted out immediately by a parent. The offender had to be found and dispatched through the small window into the dark night otherwise there would be no sleep in that bedroom.
Years later, a colony of bats invaded the space between the ceiling and flat roof of a bathroom of a house we had in West Cork. We thought at first the din was caused by birds nesting at the top of a toilet exhaust pipe. Eventually we learned about our visitors, the bats. They were everywhere, in the bath, in the attic, in the water, coming through the taps and smelling a lot. On the advice of Ireland's National "batwoman" we left them alone (they are a protected species) until the breeding season was over - there were about 200 adults in the colony at that stage. Later they left to find suitable hibernation quarters for the winter.
Last year we plugged all possible entry points to the flat roof and the attic and they failed to get through. Now they are gone - good riddance to them. The unpleasant smell lingers on. You are welcome to your highly sophisticated flying mammals, Mr Myers. I'm not a fan, man. - Yours, etc.,
Castleknock Avenue,
Dublin 13.