AFTER teaming up at this year's BBC Gardeners’ World Live show, Leasowes Walled Garden and The Bat Conservation Trust have won a prestigious prize.

The groups have won the Best Indoor Feature award for their enchanting ‘Moonlight Garden’ stand at the Birmingham NEC event, which celebrated the gardening programme’s 50th anniversary.

The collaboration first came about after the Halesowen project won last year's Wild About Gardens Week ‘plant a bat feast’ photo competition, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), The Wildlife Trusts and Bat Conservation Trust (BCT).

Since the event was staged, several volunteers at the 18th century walled garden have taken up membership with BCT and have been monitoring bat activity in their own gardens as part of the National Bat Monitoring Programme.

Joe Nunez-Mino, of BCT, which works with local bat groups across the UK, including the Birmingham and Black Country Bat Group (BrumBats), said: “I’m hoping that local residents will be inspired by these captivating creatures, creating insect-friendly gardens which encourage bats to visit, feed and even take up residence, given the right conditions.”

Among the many things people can do to encourage bats into their garden are building a pond, growing pale night-scented flowers and allowing grass to grow.