Hi team,

Thanks so much for visiting my page!

Yes, yes I know, some people run marathons or write books or whatever. I'm just being passively strapped to someone and dropping, hopefully while my soul doesn't leave my body from fear.

Why?

Well, I'll be flying like a bat on Sunday 16th Aug (back-up date 23rd Aug) to raise money for the Bat Conservation Trust.

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of bats, and my career has taken in a turn in their direction. The more I learn about them, the more I love them.

But, why should you send me cash, or indeed do anything for bats?

Firstly, bats are delightfully social creatures. My favourite bat fact, is that when baby pups are born, their mothers fly around with them attached to their bellies for the first week, before leaving them in the bat creche back at the roost for foraging trips.

Secondly, the Bat Conservation Trust once employed my sister Kate on their bat helpline. Nice of them that.

Lastly, all 17 species of UK bats are threatened. This is bad because we need them for a) human disease control and b) crop protection - both via their consumption of a range of insects, thus keeping pest populations under control, including invasive mosquitos.

I fully appreciate that not everyone will find bats as cute and delightful as I do, but if you can find a grudging respect and a tenner, that is more than enough.

Finally - I realise we're living in tricky economic times, so if you can't spare the cash, please please don't stress, there is loads you can do for bats instead. Putting bells or rustling collars on pet cats, keeping cats in at night, or having indoor cats makes a huge difference. I'm a cat lover, but fully acknowledge that they are murderous. And then simply spreading the word - enthusing about bats is incredibly powerful!

Thanks again.

Emily

P.s - Here's the info from JustGiving.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.