# Send a batty Valentine’s Day e-card from the Bat Conservation Trust website! - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/02/13/send-batty-valentines-day-ecard-bat-conservation-trust-website/ - Published: 2009-02-13T21:17:57+00:00 - Author: Howard Lake The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) has unveiled a nifty new e-card generator allowing visitors to its website to send batty e-cards for all occasions – starting with Valentine’s Day.   A link to the e-card generator can be found in the Resources & Publications tab on BCT’s website (www.bats.org.uk). Once there, users can select a batty e-card and add a personal message before sending it. The recipient will receive an email with a link which will take them to the e-card on BCT’s website. ## Advertisement   ‘We’re really rather chuffed to launch our e-card generator in time for Valentine’s Day,’ said BCT Communications and Membership Manager Neil Young. ‘Now bat-friendly people everywhere will be able to send a suitably batty e-card to that special someone and help introduce more people to these fascinating animals. We’ll add e-cards for other special occasions very soon.   ‘We’d like to thank our web designers, Fat Beehive, who have done a great job enhancing our website.’   The e-card generator joins BCT’s other vital free service, the Bat Helpline, which provides information to anyone needing advice on issues relating to bats.   Why not try BCT’s new e-card generator now?   http://www.bats.org.uk/ecards.php   For further information, please contact:   Neil Young, Communications and Membership Manager, Bat Conservation Trust   T: 020 7501 3635   E: ny****@******rg.uk   **Notes for editors**.   1. The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) is the only national organisation solely devoted to the conservation of bats and their habitats in the UK. Its vision is a world where bats and people live in harmony.   2. BCT operates the national Bat Helpline, providing advice and information on all things batty. For more information on bats, contact the Bat Helpline on 0845 1300 228 (local rate from landlines) or visit www.bats.org.uk.   #### Bat facts   · There are 17 bat species in the UK. The smallest is the pipistrelle, measuring just 5cm from head to toe; the largest is the greater mouse-eared bat, which until recently was thought extinct in this country.   · Like all mammals, bats are warm-blooded, give birth and suckle their young. They are very sociable animals, living together in colonies. They are long-lived (some can live for up to 30 years), are intelligent, highly mobile and more agile in flight than most birds.   · Bats fly and feed in the dark, which they are able to do by producing a stream of high frequency calls and listening to the returning echoes which give a distinct‘ sound picture’ of the surroundings. This is called echolocation, and can only be heard by humans through use of a device called a bat detector.   · Bats in the UK eat only insects (such as midges, moths and mosquitoes), which they catch in flight or pick off water, foliage or the ground. The pipistrelle can eat up to 3,000 midges in one night – one-third of its body weight!   · Declining bat numbers have made it necessary to legally protect all UK bats and their roosts, whether they are in residence or not. This protection also makes it an offence to block their entrance and exit holes without seeking advice.   * **[Heart sculpture is symbol of University’s £4 million appeal](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/02/14/heart-sculpture-symbol-university039s-4m-appeal/)**( 14 February 2011) * **[National Funding Scheme announces Valentine’s Day giving competition](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/02/02/national-funding-scheme-announces-valentines-day-giving-competition/)**( 2 February 2015) * **[7 great Valentine’s fundraising ideas](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/02/09/7-great-valentines-fundraising-ideas/)**( 9 February 2016)