Sleeping Batties

Bookkeeper Jane Collett tells us about her first bat outing, where she helped out with a hibernation survey in a disused London tube tunnel..

10.00 - I’m ridiculously excited about today’s hibernation count. Although I joined the Bat Conservation Trust in May, as part-time bookkeeper I had not managed to attend any bat events up until now. The meeting point isn’t far from home so this is a great opportunity. Excitement is tinged with trepidation, as I’m quite claustrophobic and spending hours locked in a dark tunnel isn’t usually my idea of fun…

11.15 - Set off to walk through some woods to our rendezvous. It’s a raw January day and I’m dressed in so many layers I feel like the Michelin Man.

12.15 - We’re ready to start - a mix of Bat Conservation Trust staff, friends and local bat enthusiasts as well as members of the London Bat Group. I’m joined by my friend Wayne, a keen naturalist, who lives nearby. Cindy Blaney of London Bat Group, briefs us. Previous surveys of the two disused railway tunnels have found mainly Natterer’s, some Daubenton’s and a single brown long-eared bat. Then we’re off on the short walk to the tunnels’ entrance. I’ve looked down on them from the main road hundreds of times, but have never seen them from this perspective. We divide into two groups. Nine Bat Conservation Trust staff and friends go with Philip Briggs from the National Bat Monitoring Programme. Philip explains likely places to find bats. On the tunnel walls, there are “crusts” of sooty deposits from when trains used to pass through, and bats hibernate in spaces where these are peeling away; there are also a number of bat bricks in the walls. Five of us slowly work our way along one side of the tunnel, five along the other. We have to walk carefully as there’s rubble in places, and railway sleepers to negotiate. I realise that my torch, which seemed pretty good at home, is really puny in this vast dark space. It isn’t long before the first bat is found, a Natterer’s, in a bat brick. It’s great to see it, and we gather round to take a look. Soon there’s another discovery, another Natterer’s, this time behind one of the crusts. For long periods we work in silence, the only sounds our footsteps and the rumble of tube trains. I’m at the end of the line of surveyors and at one point think I’ve found a bat not previously spotted. It’s possible to see much more of this bat – the length of its wing, part of its white front and its face. It’s beautiful. Although it turns out that the bat has already been counted, I’m still thrilled.

14:00 - We leave the tunnels, having found six Natterer’s bats in our tunnel – a disappointing number compared to previous years. But I’ve really enjoyed the experience and feel very privileged as you can only enter a bat’s roost if you are accompanied by someone with a special licence.It’s getting pretty cold, despite all the layers, and several of us retire to the local pub to warm up.

(Please note it is illegal to enter a bat hibernation roost unless accompanied by a licenced bat worker)


National Bat Monitoring Programme The Bat Conservation Trust runs a number of nationa and annual surveys through a volunteer network to monitor the status of many of our bat species across a range of habitats. Our surveys form the National Bat Monitoring Programme through which we track changes in bat populations. Monitoring bats is essential as over the last 60 years it would seem that many of our bat species have declined dramatically. The data collected allows us to: •Assess the conservation needs of the UK's 18 species of bat •Identify any rapid declines •Select conservation priorities and inform conservation policy •Ensure limited resources are directed to where they are most needed. If your are interested in finding out more about becoming a NBMP volunteer, please email Felicity Bates (fbates@bats.org.uk).

Winter Slumberland

Where do bats go in the winter? Kelly Gunnell looks for the answer in Scotland...


Going looking for bats in the winter seems like a fool’s task. It is common knowledge that bats just disappear at this time of year, to magically appear in the spring time. In this information age where we seem to know the answer to almost everything (or at least can find it in a few clicks); it seems absurd that we still don’t know where bats go to hibernate. The standing assumption is that the bats go to underground sites. Yet they are never found in these areas in the numbers to account for their summer population sizes.
Although, it is a rare thing to find hibernating bats, it is possible. While in Scotland recently for the Scottish Bat Worker’s Conference, I set out with local bat experts, Anne Youngman and John Haddow for a little batty adventure.

Our first stop was Doune Castle, made famous in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This medieval castle near Stirling, is made up of grey stone blocks framing a courtyard, with stunning views of snow-capped hills and golden-leaved woodland. In our search for bats I expected us to go down into some dungeon or dark cellar. But no, we found our first hibernating bats tucked into the crevices of the busy, well-lit, entrance tunnel! Why is it that bats never stick to the rules? Someone should give them a manual….
Peering into the jigsaw puzzle stone cracks, I felt a child-like glee. This was just like hunting for brown furry Easter eggs! We found about 6 pipistrelles in the entrance tunnel and adjoining rooms. But it was in one of the side cellars that we got our biggest surprise. Anne spotted two bats in the high arched ceiling and somehow could tell from that distance that they were not pips. At first, Anne and John thought they could be Daubenton’s but eventually decided that they were Natterers. What a treat!

The next stop on our bat adventure was Aberfoyle Tunnel. This is a disused quarry tunnel that John regularly checks for hibernating bats. With hard-hat, head-lamp and wellies I felt very Indiana Jones wading into the cold dark cave. Even with three people scanning the low ceiling for bats, we still nearly missed our bat. Anne’s sharp eyes spotted the lone brown long-eared hanging crystal like from the grey rock. I was thrilled to see how it tucked its ears under its wings so that only the pointy tragus sticks out. John explained that they keep their long ears under their wings to keep them moist. We didn’t find any other bats in the tunnel; apparently January and February are the best time to find hibernating bats there and even then it will only be about a half dozen.
It was a real privilege to see these few lone bats. Thanks to Anne and John for a great Scottish bat adventure.
In the meantime, the mystery of bats in winter awaits another explorer to unravel its secrets...

Kelly Gunnell
Bats and Built Environment Officer

Welsh Project is a Winner!

BCT’s Wales Bat Officer, Steve Lucas, talks about an award-winning BCT project in South Wales…

Amongst the range of projects that BCT undertakes in Wales to actively promote a greater awareness of bat conservation, one has gained particular recognition - the Urban Bat Survey Project.

The Urban Bat Survey Project aims to record and map bat activity in the urban environment by engaging volunteers new to bat conservation and providing them with the skills needed to take part in these and other survey projects, such as the National Bat Monitoring Programme. In other words – the Urban Bat Survey Project is a jewel in the crown of the Wales Bat Project.

Funded by Environment Wales and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project started in 2009 under the Count Bat Project taking place in Swansea, Cardiff, Neath and Newport. In Neath, 22 dedicated volunteers took part surveying 11 one kilometre squares. Overall in the project 228 volunteers took part surveying 108 one kilometre squares. Due to the success of the project, this year it was extended to Clwyd in north Wales.

I decided to enter the Neath element of the Urban Bat Survey Project into the Neath Port Talbot Environment Awards under the Action for Wildlife category – and I’m delighted to say that we won! The award was presented by BBC wildlife presenter Iolo Williams in recognition of the outstanding work that this project has done not only to gather new information about bats in the urban landscape, but also to train new volunteers to help deliver actions under the biodiversity action plan. The urban environment is an important area for people to get to engage with bat conservation and we need to ensure that bats are not disadvantaged by increasing urbanisation.

The ceremony was a great night and we all had an enjoyable time. It was a tremendous and fitting accolade for everyone who took part. Those volunteers who were able to be there on the night all felt really proud of this achievement - and so they should! Well done to all of them who continue to make this project such a success. Next year will be the International Year of the Bat so this is a great boost to 2011!

For more information about the Urban Bat Survey Project, you can read the full 2009 survey report.

Steve Lucas
Wales Bat Officer

The work of BCT in Wales is also financially supported by the Countryside Council for Wales. For more information, see BCT's website.

A successful Halloween for bats

Fundraising & Membership Officer Harriet Henley talks about BCT's Halloween marketing campaign


So here we are in November with the discount pumpkins and rejected Halloween odds and ends being removed from the supermarket shelves and replaced with increasingly premature Christmas-themed aisles!

If you are one of our Facebook fans or Twitter followers, you will have undoubtedly been aware over the last week that Halloween is a big event at the Bat Conservation Trust. Every year we ask ourselves this question; should we do anything in recognition of Halloween and thus acknowledge the link between bats and this annual scare-fest? And every year we come to this conclusion; yes. Of course we should!
Bats are intrinsically associated with Halloween and as silly as this may be it’s not going to change any time soon. Bats are inevitably on people’s minds at this time so we try to use the build-up to Halloween as an opportunity to do some serious myth-busting and encourage people to embrace their furry friends that feature so prominently throughout the festivities. After all, we probably wont be seeing much batty action now until the spring, so why not give bats a good old send-off into hibernation by turning Halloween into a celebration of all things bat!?

That is exactly what some of you bat-fans have done, so I thought I'd share a couple of the things that people have done for bats this Halloween...

We had some fantastic entries to our Halloween competition; “Halloween night in the life of a bat”. There were comedic accounts, diary-esque entries and some impressive poetic feats. The competition was judged by our esteemed panel of expert judges… BCT’s very own Helpline, who decided that the deserved winner was Jennifer Duran from North Carolina in the USA. Jennifer’s fantastic poem describes a bat’s feelings about Halloween night and really echoes our mission this year to get people to celebrate bats at Halloween. (Read Jennifer’s poem)




On Twitter, Laura Thompson showed us some amazing bat lino prints that she’d made (pictured above). Laura says; “The prints are ATC (artist trading card) sized lino prints based on images from the royal mail mammals postage stamps. I basically did a sketch, transferred it to the lino, then cut it out and printed it. The image is a 'test' print and the second image is of the ATC's I made.”

An in another aesthetic twist Martin Roberts, a trainee bat worker in Dorset, launched his second album “Attack of the pipistrelles” at a pub in Bournemouth on Halloween. Martin will be donating all proceeds of the album launch to BCT for us to use for bat conservation – thanks Martin and good luck with the album!

And finally, check out Kazz Larkin's batty pumpkin carving, I think we'll all be following suite next year!

So all in all this Halloween has been a storming success, and people have really gone above and beyond to THINK BAT throughout the festivities. The highlight for me has been the amazing level of interaction and response that we’ve had from all you bat fans on Facebook and Twitter. So a huge thanks to all of you for getting involved this Halloween (and for tolerating our awful batty puns!)

Harriet Henley
Fundraising & Membership Officer

(Currently sitting in the bat cave, desperately trying to convert aforementioned puns into a Christmas theme – apologies in advance!)

Batting on the Fringe - An Orkney blog

By Anne Youngman

It's the old bat in the Attic here, I’m looking out into a grey sky and reliving fond memories of a recent trip to Orkney where the sun was always shining - even if it was through the rain, the birds singing and the toughest bats braved the chilly nights to reward hardy bat enthusiasts. Oh halcyon days and moonlit nights!

The reason for my trip was to do some training with a group of keen bat people to add to their field skills and keep enthusiasm high. It had been a rather “last minute” invitation and I was rather worried that we’d get no bats and the group would feel demoralised rather than encouraged. I was completely wrong!

Not only does Orkney have the toughest bats in the UK, I believe it has the hardiest bat people! We were out for three evenings (wrapped in hats, scarves, gloves, fleeces and thermals) and got bats two out of the three nights). And these weren’t just “ordinary bats” i.e. 45kHz pipistrelles, we got (cue the deep sultry voice, music and long pause ........) Nathusius’ pipistrelle!!


The bat was recorded by Effy Everis who thought it sounded rather low and slow and had a sneaking, tingling suspicion it was something different. She was right. It was confirmed as Nathusius’ by a panel of bat–boffins and was the cause of several celebrations in bat circles. Effy has recorded other tantalising bat sounds, not like typical 45kHz pipistrelle calls so watch this space for an update on the unexpected delights of batting in Orkney.
It really was a wonderful trip. I have lovely memories of a full moon so bright we cast shadows as we walked through the woods at night, of starlings singing under the wooden jetty of Stromness harbour, rainbows and seals singing sad songs and of an ever changing sky. If you’ve never been to Orkney go there and take your bat detector with you!

Anne Youngman (pining for sunlight, open skies and the long lines of the Orkney landscapes)

Holy mackerel bat woman – its bats in the belfry!

Anne Youngman’s bat blog

Batty old woman here, reporting from the attic on a brilliantly batty talk and walk that was held at Dunblane Cathedral on Saturday 18th September.

The event was organised by Historic Scotland’s very own Bat Woman; Natalie Taylor (also known fondly as Nat-the-Bat to her friends). I was “Robin” her beautiful assistant (Ha Ha).

Flocks of Dunblane folk gathered at the cathedral for a bit of an evening adventure. Their first task was a hunt to find the Cathedral’s own resident bat. Ben (only 9) found the carved bat miserichord under one of the choir stalls. It’s a rather strange bat, more like a cat with wings. Why it’s there and what its significance is, is a complete mystery (But if YOU know the explanation I’d love to hear it!)

Once the cat-bat had been located we returned to our pews. Natalie gave a lively talk with help from willing volunteers in the audience.
We were wowed by the wingspan of the Kalong (it really is long!) and our hearts melted at the sweet name of the Bumble bee bats.
We had fun testing our bat detectors with a sonic cat scarer and we were warned that our pipistrelles would make “rude raspberries” as feeding buzzes. Then just before venturing out into the night we met a very special guest “squeaker”; Catriona McBat.

Catriona is a pipistrelle bat who was found in the Dundee Library (We believe in the Natural History section!). She’d been on a “health farm holiday “ in Dunblane, i.e. sleeping all day and stuffing her face with mealworms all night, and was due to be released outside the library in a few nights time. She tried to tell us all about her adventures but sadly no one understood her squeaks! With Catriona safely tucked back in her box we all flitted out into the night, bat detectors at the ready.

We were very lucky as the weather stayed dry and despite the cool temperature there were plenty of bats around. We heard rude raspberries, wet slappies and grumbling Geiger counter noises - and that was just from the detectors! From the humans there were lots of squeaks of excitement and general bat chat.

When things seemed quiet we made a “hotspot” by standing close together. This attracts insects into the warm air above our heads and seemed to be a way of attracting the bats to come in closer too.
It was such a good night we’ve decided to do it all again next year! Watch this space!

Over and out,

Anne Youngman
The old bat in the Attic, Scottish churches House, Dunblane.


The bat care network:

Just like Catriona McBat, hundreds of bats find themselves injured or grounded and lost away from their roosts every year. For the majority, their chances of survival depend on the goodwill of members of the public and the hard work and dedication of volunteer bat carers.

Thanks to these volunteers, BCT is able to coordinate a bat care network across the UK. There are currently just over 300 bat carers in the network; some are extremely experienced and run bat hospitals, others do small scale bat care and some will only act as an “ambulance driver” or first aid help, preferring to pass bats on to more experienced carers where necessary. BCT also has contact details for a few wildlife hospitals who take in bats on a regular basis, particularly in areas where there are very few bat carers.

In areas where there are no bat carers available, callers have to be advised to take the bats directly to local vets, who can call BCT for information if they are not familiar with bats. There are some counties and areas where there are very few or no contacts and we are therefore always in need of new carers.

If your are interested in finding out more about becoming a bat carer, please email Xenia Snowman (xsnowman@bats.org.uk).

If you find a grounded or injured bat, please call the National Bat Helpline on 0845 1300 228 and we will provide you with details of any bat carers in your local area.

The National Bat Conference: A first-timer’s perspective

By Kelly Gunnell, Bats and Built Environment Officer

It was a tough decision to make: a week’s windsurfing in Tiree or a chance to attend my first National Bat Conference? Well, of course I chose to go to the Bat Conference and I have no regrets!

As a first-timer to the conference, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The stories from previous years had really built up my expectations and the buzz in the office gearing up to it certainly added to the excitement. When the Friday came along, there was the usual hive of activity involved in trying to get things set-up. Lots of BCT staff (and thus equipment) had been delayed in traffic which meant that the membership stand and even aspects of the registration desk was a last-minute scramble. Luckily we all handled it with cool suave and I don’t think anyone noticed (right?).

The Talks...

As BCT organises and runs the conference not all BCT staff get to see many of the talks presented. However, as the new Built Environment Officer for BCT, I had a keen interest in many of the talks and was lucky enough to see most of the programme (in return I had to do a lot of microphone duty, but that is a small price to pay!). All of the speakers did a great job and the range and diversity of topics kept the audience interested and awake - despite the evenings being spent discussing bats (and drinking) long into the night!

The first talk, on the long-term bat monitoring project in Finemere Wood, set the bar high. I was most interested to hear that Daubenton’s, Brown Long-eared and Natterer’s seem to prefer shady roosts, whereas Pipistrelle’s will go for sunny and exposed bat boxes.

Roger Ransome’s presentation on his ten years’ worth of involvement on the Combe Down Stabilisation Project was fascinating. The amount of time and effort that has gone into the project is staggering. It was good to hear about the importance of ventilation for bat hibernation. I also learnt that foam concrete takes an amazing 6 months to cool.

It was a real eye-opener to learn about Turkey’s extensive cave systems from Emrah Coraman. Both the caves and the bats are under threat from cave-tourism and it was fascinating to hear how Emrah and his colleagues are tackling the problem. This talk was complimented by Dave Anderson’s talk on Sunday, which described the great lengths he has gone to discover and uncover caves in East Lancashire.

One of my favourite talks was by Emma Rigby which used Social Network Analysis to study the population ecology of Daubenton’s bats. Not surprisingly it was found that bats that roost together are almost exclusively found associating with each other during foraging.

There were two talks that looked at bat activity in the urban environment. James Hale showed how key landscape variables could be used to predict bat activity in Birmingham. He found that the NSL guild activity is highest where there is: lots of water within 100-200m; lots of natural landscape within 1000m; and low levels of buildings within 1000m. For common and soprano pips there was a strong relationship with total connectivity. Cath Laing used GIS tools to show that in Brighton bats are more likely to occur in areas with bigger gardens. Larger gardens are more likely to have greater insect assemblages because of the bigger trees. However, bat activity was not associated with street trees. This raises interesting questions for urban greening projects.

Workshops and dancing the night away...

The conference wasn’t all talks though. The workshops gave the participants a chance to engage more fully on a range of topics from Bat Identification to Sound analysis, Planning, Churches, Mitigation and even Wildlife Drawing. I did hear there was even a gate-crasher to the conference that came just for the Wind Turbine workshop!

No one could complain that the Conference Dinner was anything except entertaining. The very pink berry pyramid raised the odd eyebrow, the wine flowed pretty freely, Richard Crompton (one of BCT’s trustee we said goodbye to this weekend) did the rounds in his new Batman dressing gown and the Ceilidh had both participants and non-participants in stitches of laughter. After much socialising and networking, I made it to bed about 1:30am, unlike some energetic individuals who only stumbled to bed after 4am! I didn’t envy them on Sunday.

Although I have no previous experience to compare it to, it was still in my opinion a thoroughly successful National Bat Conference. I’m sure we are all glad for the lil’ break until the next one though!