Saving the bats til last!

We spend most of our summers undertaking bat surveys - standing outside a building or next to a tree with our bat detectors, patiently waiting for these furry flying mammals to make an appearance. Sometimes we get to witness the emergence of hundreds of bats from a maternity roost although more often a single Pipistrelle will reveal its lonely bachelor pad to us. Other times we get through an entire survey without hearing a single bat pass by (although thankfully this isn't very often).

Despite our regular work with bats we very seldom get to meet them "up close and personal", so when we were deciding on a project we could do with our local volunteer group; the Friends of Seckar Wood, we suggested that some bat boxes could be put up in the nature reserve and that from time to time we would check them with the rest of group to see if our work was making a difference to Seckar's bat population.

This time last year 8 volunteer made bat boxes were erected on trees near to the ponds in the wood. A preliminary check in spring 2013 found no signs of bats. Today we checked them again, almost 1 year to the day since the boxes were erected and a real treat was in store for us; 4 of the boxes contained bats (a total of 5 pipistrelle) and 2 boxes had bat droppings in or on the box. 6 out of 8 aint bad! A great end to the 2013 bat survey season.

One of the 5 Pipistrelle which now call the Seckar Wood bat boxes home

 Thanks to everyone who came and helped with the bat box checking.

Maria introducing the group to a bat box resident!

Seckar Wood offers lots of great foraging habitat for bats, but many of the trees are relatively young and lack the natural features which bats would use for roosting (such as cracks, crevices and holes). Plans are afoot to make and erect lots more boxes for Seckar Wood, which should provide even more homes for these amazing creatures.