They have urged anyone who finds a sick or injured bat to call the Bat Conservation Trust helpline for advice.

BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Sussex | Downpours 'starving' young bats

Anne Youngman, the Bat Conservation Trust's Scottish officer, said the handful of incidents may be related to last year's poor summer and autumn.

BBC: Hunger makes bats 'act strangely'

"If you have bats roosting in your building, you can't disturb them in any way without getting a special license, " says Kelly Gunnell, Built Environment Officer with the Bat Conservation Trust, a charitable organization in London, England.

CNN: Architects building dream homes for bats

The new, three-hour course, offered by the Royal Institute of British Architects in conjunction with the Bat Conservation Trust, is intended to educate architects about bats, teaching participants the ideal size, access points, temperature, materials and location for bat roosts.

CNN: Architects building dream homes for bats

"Usually, bat sounds are inaudible to humans as they are too high for us to hear but special 'time expansion' ultrasonic detectors convert these sounds to a lower frequency, " Prof Jones, who is also chairwoman of the UK Bat Conservation Trust, explained.

BBC: Website calls on people to become 'bat detectives'