Bat roost built at Glenfinnan centre

THE arrival of the tourist season has seen a major Scottish attraction lay on new accommodation in the hope of luring back some increasingly rare visitors.

Some 24,000 people a year visit the Glenfinnan centre in the west Highlands, near the monument commemorating the 1745 Jacobite uprising.

But a survey has shown it is the home for 170 pipistrelle bats in spring and summer.

The National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which runs the centre, has built a bat roost.

As bats are protected species, a specialist from Scottish Natural Heritage was called in to advise on work to replace wooden walls that had begun to rot because of extreme weather.