Freya is a firefly. She’s a zippy-wippy firefly. She loves nothing more than flying around really fast with her friends. Freya is an acrobatic firefly. She uses her flying skills to perform tricks. She can fly up and down in a straight line. She can hover in one place. And she can even fly backwards! Freya also does another amazing trick. She can make her whole body light up like a lightbulb!

Freya has a friend. His name is Bertie. Bertie is a bat. Bertie likes flying too, and he can perform his own special trick. He uses his large ears to listen for echoes that tell him where his food might be. This is called echolocation.

Freya and Bertie live in a very beautiful, hilly area beside the sea. It’s often very windy there. Because of this, there are a lot of wind turbines along the coastline. These are devices that turn wind into electricity when the wind turns their big blades.

One summer’s night, as the wind blows across the hills, Freya is out practising her flying tricks. As she flies straight down to the ground, she notices Bertie at the entrance to a small cave in the hillside. He is looking a bit worried.

“Hey Bertie!” says Freya, landing on a rock beside her friend. “Is everything OK?”

“Not really,” replies Bertie, shaking his head.

“What’s happened?” asks Freya, concerned.

“Well, my family and I have a bit of a problem,” explains Bertie.

“We do most of our flying at night. We head to the coastline to drink seawater and forage for food. When it’s dark they light up the wind turbines with red lights. That stops planes from flying into them. Unfortunately, it makes things a bit dangerous for us.”

“Really?” says Freya, sounding surprised. “Why’s that?”

“Bats fly away from white and yellow lights. But we’re attracted to red lights. So we sometimes don’t realise we’re heading straight for the blades on a wind turbine.”

“Oh no!” “That’s terrible!”

“I know,” agrees Bertie. “And my mum is afraid for the baby bats and the elderly bats. She doesn’t want them to get hurt. She says we can’t go flying at all anymore. So it will be hard to have fun, or find food!”

Freya is surprised to hear this. She thought wind power was a really good thing for the environment. She had no idea of the danger it poses.

Freya’s nerves make her zip around even faster in the air as she wonders if there is some way she can help. All the zipping makes her feels a little dizzy. So she stops moving to clear her head. As she hovers in the air, she looks down at her body and notices her light shining in the darkness. It’s yellow. This gives Freya an idea.

“Bertie,” she says, excitedly, “I think I can help. Give me a few minutes.” And she flies off faster than Bertie has ever seen her fly before!

In barely any time at all, Freya reappears, with lots of her firefly friends. They all zip around in the air, their tummy lights sparking in the night sky. It looks just like they are putting on a firework display!

“Bertie, our bodies all glow with yellow light in the dark. When you want to go flying, how about we hover in front of wind turbines so you know to stay away from them?”

“Oh Freya,” says Bertie, with a big grin on his face. “That would be fantastic. But what about the planes?”

“We’ve thought about that,” replies Freya. “As soon as we see a plane, we’ll let you know. We can all fly back to your cave for a while. The planes will see the red lights and be safe.”

“And when they’ve gone…?” asks Bertie.

“…then we’ll just hover in front of the wind turbines again.”

Bertie’s ears are so pleased to hear this news, that they twitch backwards and forwards, which makes Freya laugh.

“I’m going to go and tell mum!” says Bertie, flapping his wings. “She’s going to be so grateful.” And he flies off towards his cave home.

Freya and her friends practise hovering in front of the wind turbines. When they do, the red lights can’t be seen at all.

After a short while, Bertie returns with his mum and lots of his bat family. They all swoop and squeak and squawk, to show their thanks.

Freya and her friends do a little acrobatic display in return.

From that night on, Bertie and his family are able to fly to the coast safely, for food and water. As they do, they see the beautiful sparkling lights on their firefly friends, which look a bit like low stars in the sky. They make sure to keep far away from them. The wind turbines can keep turning and cause them no harm.

As the fireflies hover in front of the wind turbines, Freya is delighted. She’s helping keep her friend safe. She’s also making sure the fireflies and bats can both continue to perform their special tricks in the sky!

Questions for discussion

Does echolocation use sound or touch to help bats find food?

Can you find out how wind power works?

What kinds of lights can you and your friends use at night to keep you all safer in the dark?