diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5f679045..a5e2d3b6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -53,7 +53,10 @@
 
 ## Bugfixes
 
+- Send all bat error messages to stderr, see #2827 (@deboard)
+
 - Fix long file name wrapping in header, see #2835 (@FilipRazek)
+- 
 - Fix `NO_COLOR` support, see #2767 (@acuteenvy)
 - Fix handling of inputs with OSC ANSI escape sequences, see #2541 and #2544 (@eth-p)
 - Fix handling of inputs with combined ANSI color and attribute sequences, see #2185 and #2856 (@eth-p)
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index 007737b0..24c1409f 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -67,7 +67,15 @@ pub fn default_error_handler(error: &Error, output: &mut dyn Write) {
             .ok();
         }
         _ => {
-            writeln!(output, "{}: {}", Red.paint("[bat error]"), error).ok();
+            // default - always write [bat error] to stderr
+            let stderr = std::io::stderr();
+            writeln!(
+                &mut stderr.lock(),
+                "{}: {}",
+                Red.paint("[bat error]"),
+                error
+            )
+            .ok();
         }
     };
 }
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests.rs b/tests/integration_tests.rs
index 97dbd550..970c0d3d 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests.rs
+++ b/tests/integration_tests.rs
@@ -861,6 +861,16 @@ fn env_var_bat_pager_value_bat() {
         .stderr(predicate::str::contains("bat as a pager is disallowed"));
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn bat_error_to_stderr() {
+    bat()
+        .env("BAT_PAGER", "bat")
+        .arg("/tmp")
+        .assert()
+        .failure()
+        .stderr(predicate::str::contains("[bat error]"));
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn pager_value_bat() {
     bat()
@@ -1358,6 +1368,9 @@ fn can_print_file_starting_with_cache() {
         .stderr("");
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn send_all_bat_error_to_stderr() {}
+
 #[test]
 fn does_not_print_unwanted_file_named_cache() {
     bat_with_config().arg("cach").assert().failure();
diff --git a/tests/scripts/stderr1.sh b/tests/scripts/stderr1.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..73abc0d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/scripts/stderr1.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+## test for issue 2561
+
+OUTPUT=$(mktemp)
+BAT=bat
+code=$($BAT /tmp 2> $OUTPUT; cat $OUTPUT | grep error; echo $?)
+
+if [[ $code == 1 ]]; then
+    echo "stderr test fsil"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+exit 0