The dog took me for an early morning walk today, around my favourite fields near Berthem, which is quite close to Leuven. Dotted about the fields and the lanes are a number of second world war bunkers – presumably built as part of a defensive cordon around Leuven or maybe even an early line of defence for Brussels. In any case, as I hope the picture shows, nature is steadily reclaiming these objects. Indeed, they blend in so well now that you almost don’t notice them. Rather than blowing them up and carting them away, the authorities have left them to be reclaimed. But now, as occasional signs declare, they also serve another purpose – bat sanctuaries. I suppose what has happened is that as we have steadily restored our churches and given them fine, tight-fitting roofs, many of the bats’ traditional roosting places have gone. I like nature’s pacific and ecological solution!