A REAL-LIFE Batman abseiled off Dundas Aqueduct in a daredevil mission to save an endangered species.

Bat expert Dr Mark Robinson scaled the monument at Limpley Stoke at the end of a rope with a mission to protect the bats which live there.

Refurbishment work begins on the aqueduct in the summer, and Dr Robinson made sure none of the rare creatures will be harmed when engineers move in.

The Grade One listed aqueduct on the Kennet and Avon Canal is home to a protected colony of Daubenton's bats.

The aqueduct's stonework has deteriorated through age and frost damage, and damaged masonry will be repaired over the next two years.

Dr Robinson, an ecologist for British Waterways, said: "The conservation works being carried out are essential to preserve the wonderful heritage of Dundas Aqueduct and keep the waterway open and safe for people to use.

"The only way to do the bat protection work was to abseil or put up scaffolding, but the refurbishment won't take place until the summer and we didn't want to keep scaffolding up that long.

"The conservation work will only be started once we are certain that the bats have resettled."

Dr Robinson, who last abseiled 15 years ago, blocked up holes not used by bats and inserted excluders where bats may be present.

The excluders are specially-designed plastic pipes, which allow bats to come out of the crevice but not to enter it.

Specially created roosting sites in safer places elsewhere on the aqueduct will act as replacement bat homes.

British Waterways cares for a 2,000-mile network of canals and navigable rivers across the country and is looking for funding to complete the restoration of the aqueduct.

"Waterways are nationally important for wildlife, and British Waterways takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously," Dr Robinson said.

Bats and their roosts are protected by law, as all bat species have become scarcer during the past 50 years.

Waterway structures such as tunnels, bridges and the underside of aqueducts are often used as hibernating sites because internal temperatures remain constant.

l Have you any problems with bats? Do they roost in or near your home. Please let us know your experiences. Contact us on (01225) 777292 or e-mail us at wtimes@newswilts.co.uk.