In Norway, very few bats are found in caves and mines in winter, thus other habitats must be primary hibernation sites in this region. To explore roost site selection in late autumn and early winter at 62° N in western Norway, 18 bats of three genera of the Vespertilionidae family that are known to use underground hibernation sites were tagged with radio transmitters. The bats were tracked mostly during daytime between late September and up to
early January. Mainly three habitats were used by bats in late autumn in this
study; buildings, crevices in rock walls and rock scree. Roosts were distributed from sea level to the low alpine zone. Rock scree was confirmed as a hibernation site for bats.
The use of wooden (modified Stratmann) boxes by bats was studied in three different tree stands (80-year old beech forest, 150-year old oak-beech forest with admixture of pine, 50–70-year old pine forest) of a managed woodland (Darżlubska Forest) in northern Poland. Two species (Pipistrellus nathusii and Plecotus auritus) inhabited these boxes after 2–13 months. The occupation of shelters in pine monoculture was several tens of times higher than in both deciduous forests. The main factors responsible for such differences are: 1) almost complete lack of natural roosts (tree holes) in young pine forest, 2) unfavourable (colder and more humid) microclimate in broadleaf (especially beech) forests, 3) much higher abundance of some invertebrates (mainly gastropods), that make boxes in beech forest unattractive for bats.