THE YORK Dungeon became home for bats as the city's scariest attraction joined a campaign to raise awareness of the flying creatures.

The dungeon played host to the North Yorkshire Bat Group in an effort to increase public knowledge.

Expert Roma Oxford, of the group, was joined by two patients which she had nursed back to health after injury - Dizzy the pipistrelle and Nutmeg the noctule bat.

She said: "The Dungeon seemed a good place to stage a valuable PR mission on behalf of bats.

"For centuries they have been portrayed as the embodiment of all things evil, inextricably linked with Halloween, witches and vampires.

"In fact, they are very gentle creatures who have a lot more to fear from us than we do from them, but many species are under increasing pressure from a variety of threats - from loss of habitat and pollution to human interference."