I’m
Janna Edwards and I run 15Days in Clay, a local Community Award winning ceramic Art project, at Livability Holton Lee. Holton Lee is an
idyllic 350 acres of woodland, heath, reed-beds, a few fields and some
important buildings and all on the edge of Poole harbour. This is where our
studio is based.
At the start,in 2003, I had just enough funding to run a ceramic class for 8
people, one day a week over 15 weeks, hence the name. Thirteen years on and wenow have over 40 artists attending over 4
days a week and supported buy a
team of exceptionally talented volunteers.The artists have a range of learning /physical needs and we
have built an supportive environment where theycan engage and progress their creativity
and talents to become artists in their own right.
As
for the bat boxes; in the field by our studio a big old oak tree succumbed to a
violent storm a few years ago; all the branches broke off and all that was left
standing was its huge trunk. Geoff Jones, who worked at the time for Holton
Lee, asked if we could make some bat boxes to go on the trunk to make a bit of
a show.
We
had just had a
big exhibition at Poole’s Art Centre, The Lighthouse. For which each of
us made large quirky busts of ourselves, some 50 all together; it was a huge
success and we followed on with the bat boxes taking on a basic design with
each artist giving their individual take on the box transforming it into
something special, but they never got to adorn the tree trunk.
There
was a Community Fair coming up, the boxes were ready and after a bit of head
scratching it was felt that a more suitable setting for them would be on the
wall of the ‘Old Farmhouse’. Here they not only look fantastic, blowing our own
trumpet, so to speak, but also very timely.
The Farm
House with a 15 Days in Clay Totem obscuring the view of
the bat boxes
on the right hand wall of the farm house
The farmhouse is home to three species of resident
bats and there is also another smaller colony in the adjacent building called
‘The Barn’ , its not actually a barn and it is being upgraded to a new life as
a spinal injury rehabilitation centre. This work could not have been done
without the Farmhouse next door being able to provide alternative
accommodation. With a bit of luck the bat boxes will soon have their first
batty residents.
It
makes me very proud to be able to show off their work in the bat boxes now on
permanent display
So , any time
you are near Poole, call in to have a closer peek at our work and enjoy our
wonderful surroundings.
“A
textbook example of how a functional object can at the same time serve nature.”
This is how bat-expert Marcel Schillemans from the Dutch Mammal Society described
the recently completed Vlotwatering Bridge in the Netherlands. What is the
story behind this unique ‘bat-bridge’?
The ‘bat bridge’ is part of the Poelzone,
an elongated area in the municipality of Westland between the existing towns of
‘s-Gravenzande, Naaldwijk and Monster. Along the waterway a new green
recreational area has been realised, including a cycle route, natural banks and
spawn sites for fishes. The design for the landscape was conceived by LOLA
Landscape Architects to strengthen the existing ecological connections and to
have the natural and recreational functions complement each other. The new
Vlotwatering Bridge by NEXT architects was commissioned by the municipality of
Westland and is part of this broader plan.
The bridge is made for slow traffic
(pedestrians and cyclist) and cars to a private house. The Vlotwatering is a
flight-route for the numerous different bat species that live in the area. Recently,
summer roost have been found nearby the water. Moreover, as the newly designed
water-banks will attract more insects, it is expected the bat population will
further grow. Thus, a bridge over the water offers a unique opportunity to for
a bat-friendly design: the concrete mass of the construction creates an optimal
climate and an ideal habitat for these mammals..
In designing the Vlotwatering Bridge, we
worked closely with the bat-experts Herman Limpens and Marcel Schillemans
(Mammals Association - Zoogdiervereniging). A first and important step in the
process was a programme of requirements for the bats. Ecological designs are
often blamed for having a high degree of “geitenwollensokken” - a Dutch
expression referring to a certain kind of idealism, perceived to be naive,
theoretical (much talk, little action), and foolishly optimistic, and therefore
not achieving its goals. Hence, at NEXT we knew that the key to success was in finding
a new approach: inquisitive and based on research. Instead of starting from existing
references or common solutions, we based our design on the ecological
requirements. With this project we
wanted to take ecological design to the NEXT level. This was most challenging
for all parties involved.
With a length of 25 meters, the bridge
consists of a concrete arch that spans the entire Vlotwatering and marks the
entrance of the Poelzone. At its highest point, the bridge curves to form an
S-shape and offer a panoramic view of the area. To design a bridge that would
simultaneously be a habitat for bats, it was important to distinguish between
different species, as each one has specific needs. The design of the various
stays is customized based on the type, function and location and resulted in
three specific components, each providing a specific opportunity for bats:
-Bridge abutment. At the north side the
abutment functions as a winter stay.
-Bottom deck. To accommodate stays for
bats during the summer
-Bridge balustrade. Similarly to the
deck, the balustrade provides accommodation for the summer
To optimize the suitability of the bridge
for bats, the structure is made out of concrete, which provides a stable and
pleasant climate for bats. Moreover, the concrete’s material qualities, high
strength, freedom of shape, and easy workability make it possible to make a distinctive
bridge that fits within the environment and cycle path. On the underside of the
bridge there are entrance slots that have a rough finish for a better grip. The
slots are part of a pattern of grooves in the concrete arch.
The different types of accommodation that
are incorporated into the bridge are visible in subtle way to the visitors of
the Poelzone. The bridge’s ecological functions have been translated to
attention-enhancing details, making the Vlotwatering Bridge into a unique
project, for both humans and animals.
The Vlotwatering Bridge was completed in
the beginning of October 2015.
In my work as a wildlife photographer I
have met many bat specialists and have often sympathised with the amount of
antisocial night work involved in surveys. As my background is in physics and
engineering, I have always found technology exciting, and have combined my
interests to develop a portable CCTV system for bat roost monitoring that can
reduce the need for human presence during emergence and dawn swarming surveys or
bat monitoring near roosts.
Barbastelle bats dawn swarming
The portable system I have developed works
well in woodland, but can be used in buildings or caves. If mains power is
present, there is even more flexibility and the possibility of obtaining HD
quality videos. With power and internet availability it is even possible to
view remotely.
I have used trail cameras for many years as
a way of establishing the presence of wildlife, and reducing the time spent
looking for it, but became frustrated with the lack of flexibility and the
generally unsatisfying image quality of night videos. This led to me
researching CCTV as a method of wildlife monitoring. In order to test out systems
in natural environments, I joined Natural England on Dartmoor as a volunteer.
The possibility of using a CCTV system for
bat monitoring was always in my mind and it became apparent that, as there was
no power, internet or suitable mobile phone signal in the study area, I would
have to develop a portable CCTV system that could work reliably and withstand
the uncertain weather in a Dartmoor woodland.
Portable CCTV systems for wildlife are not
common, except in the large expensive forms used in major projects, so I had to
start from scratch. Although the basics of a CCTV system are straightforward,
consisting of camera, recorder and power source, finding suitable, reliable
equipment is not easy. Small details can mean the difference between success
and failure, but I did eventually achieve success.
The Natural England team at Yarner Wood on
Dartmoor are part of the Moor than Meets
the Eye project, and I was interested to discover that, as part of the
project, the Woodland Trust was carrying out research on Barbastelle bats in
the Bovey Valley with a PhD student from Bristol University. Luckily the team
were interested in my CCTV system and willing to allow me to test it alongside
their research. In addition to the CCTV camera, an SM2 bat recorder was set up
to identify the bats seen on video. One big advantage of CCTV is that only infrared
light is used and there is no bat disturbance. All UK bat species and their
roosts are legally protected and should never be disturbed in any way. The
biggest advantage, however, is that equipment setup, data collection and
analysis takes place during the day and does not involve night work.
One of the roosts being studied was a
Barbastelle maternity roost which was within range of the CCTV camera without
tree climbing being necessary. Unfortunately the day before the camera was to
be set up at the end of July, the bats vacated the roost, and it looked like
the CCTV project would fail before it started. However, as Barbastelle bats are
known to switch roosts frequently, it was decided to leave the equipment set up
until the end of September and hope that the bats would return.
The results were surprising and exciting
and yielded a large number of interesting videos. Although the main colony did
not return, throughout the period studied there were regular inspection visits
to the roost, together with interesting behaviour that was not fully
understood. A large proportion of the
visits did not appear to have calls associated with them at all.
In July and August, Barbastelle bats visited,
but in September Long-eared bats were frequently seen on video, easily
distinguished by the ears and the hovering flight:
The CCTV system performed reliably and gave some excellent quality videos. The initial hope of an occasional video was
greatly surpassed, despite there being no large colony using the tree as a day
roost.
Because of the success of the pilot study,
a more formal research project was proposed in order to study the call
structure of Barbastelle bats in more detail. The research is taking place at
present, using portable CCTV as before, together with two SM4 Wildlife Acoustics
recorders. Because it is possible to see the bats as well as record their
calls, one aim of the project is to measure how calls vary with activity.
Another aim is to investigate if there are ‘silent’ visits. Because the roost
was occupied by a Barbastelle colony for the first few weeks, there is an
opportunity to study behaviour and call structure before and after roost
occupation.
CCTV equipment costs less than bat
recorders, the only major cost being in battery power for a portable system. I
visit the site twice a week to change batteries and SD cards. This level of
activity ensures that data analysis remains exciting and avoids the tedium of
trawling though weeks of videos and bat calls. It also allows regular
synchronisation of bat detectors and video recorder, both of which can drift in
time.
Details of equipment and set up can be
found in my book CCTV for Wildlife Monitoring (Pelagic Publishing). The book
also give details of many other wildlife CCTV applications. For those less
technically oriented I give courses for those willing to travel to Devon.
There are many reasons to want to
help bats, not least because it’s actually very easy! British bats are crucial
to our ecosystems as they can eat over 3,000 insects a night! Large flying
foxes in tropical regions help to pollinate fruits and spread seeds to ensure
rainforests regenerate and are sustainable. And bat poop, called guano,
is highly valued and effective fertiliser. Bats are also amazing subjects to research, echolocation could offer
help to the blind and a blood thinning chemical, used by a small number of
species of vampire bats, has the potential to form the basis of new medical
discoveries!
One
of the easiest ways to help bats is in your garden. British bats feed only on
insects (some species will also eat the occasional spider), so a sure fire way
to make your garden bat-friendly is to make it insect-friendly first. Plants
that flower at night will attract insects at times when bats are feeding.
Building a pond, making a compost heap and planting some wild flowers are also
great ways of attracting insects into your garden. Wild About Gardens Week is a great way to showcase your
gardening abilities and find out more about how to make your garden a bat
haven. To be in with a chance of winning our ‘plant a bat feast’ photo competition, take a photo of your plant-display
and email it to lmanchester@wildlifetrusts.org any time before November
6th!
Many species of bat are put off
gardens by bright artificial lights (http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/bats_and_lighting.html),
especially those that are shining on roosts, access points and flight paths, so
reducing these may result in a higher number of bats occupying your garden.
However, there are some British bat species, such as Leisler’s bats, that feed on
the insects that are attracted to street lamps.
Putting up a bat boxis
another relatively easy way to help bats in your garden. You can buy one or
make it yourself. Visit our website to find out more
about installing a bat box. Some species love bat boxes, whereas others tend
not to use them. It can take a few years for bats to move in, so this method of
making your garden bat-friendly requires patience. You could also create linear
features, such as hedgerows or tree lines. Bats use hedges as hunting grounds and
as routes to follow to get to other hunting grounds.
Another piece of
advice to cat owners, try and limit the time that your cat is out when bats are
out. Cat attacks are one of the most common cause of bat fatalities; it is estimated
that over 30% of rescued bats in the UK have been attacked by cats. More than
half of the bats that have been attacked die as a result. If a bat has been
caught by a cat it will almost certainly be injured. Even if you cannot
see any obvious injuries there is a great risk of internal infection from the
cat's saliva. Furthermore, cats will often learn where a bat roost is and catch
bats as they leave the roost, putting a whole colony at risk. If your cat does
catch a bat, please call the National Bat Helpline on 0345 1300 228. To avoid
bats being killed or injured you are encouraged to bring your cat indoors half
an hour before sunset and keep it in all night between April and October. If it
is not possible for your cat to be in all night, bring it in half an hour before
sunset and keep it in for an hour after sunset
British bats are insectivores,
meaning that they feed on insects. This means that pesticides and insecticides can
inadvertently harm bats. Insecticides are used in agriculture, industry and
domestically and can help explain the rise in agricultural productivity in the
20th Century. However, they have been found to weaken bats’ immune systems, thus making them more vulnerable to diseases, such as White Nose
Syndrome.Moreover, during migration or winter
hibernation bats may have toxic levels of pesticide concentrations in their
brains. This may cause bat populations to drop, which will mean that even more
insecticides are required to make up for all the insects that bats would have
eaten. You can help to combat
this by buying organic products that aren’t made using pesticides and eliminating
the use of pesticides in your personal garden.
Honduran White Bats (c) Shirley Thompson
Adjusting your purchasing habits is also a
great way of helping bats nationally and internationally. Bats account for over
half of the mammal species that are found in tropical rainforests. This means
that bats are vulnerable to deforestation. Bats can be highly sensitive
to disturbances, such as habitat destruction and/or fragmentation. For example,
when a hibernating bat is disturbed, its body temperature spikes upward in
preparation for escape, costing as much as a month of stored fat reserve. Not only does rainforest destruction
harm the local bats, but it leads to an acceleration of climate change, which harms
ecosystems and bats around the world. There are many ways that you can change your eating and purchasing
decisions to help avoid deforestation, for example by switching to a diet that
relies less on animal agriculture and palm oil consumption. However, animal agriculture has increased
vampire bat populations, as vampire bats feed mostly on farm animals in
tropical regions Another solution
is to be recycled products, which require less timber.
by By Dr Allyson Walsh, Cambridge University In the beginning
Last night I went out and counted bats. All two of them. It was a classic NBMP evening. The rain in the Welsh marches was stuck in a repeat cycle of heavy, to light to nothing and back again in the period leading up to the count. The dreary weather provoked much debate about cancelling or going ahead, but as several of us had gathered from near and far at a significant sized roost, we opted to “Carry On Batting” in the damp. We were rewarded with a count of over 200 bats from our particular building (though not through my allocated exit to count!). The twist in this particular evening was this was the first time I have been out on an NBMP count since leaving England almost 15 years ago.
Twenty years on and still going strong makes me proud. Very proud. And given it’s EU referendum month, it may be an opportune time to reminisce on the main driver behind setting up the NBMP. It was the EU. The program was designed to directly address pressure to fulfill the UK Government’s obligations to conserve bats under European Directives, in particular the EU Habitats and Species Directive, and the Agreement on the Conservation of Bats in Europe (under the Bonn Convention). Beneath the legislative veneer however lies the important point that robust information on trends in bat populations at a range of geographic scales is essential to the long-term conservation of bats.
The BCT team from the early days
Time Proof Design
Our world is a dynamic place, and time proofing any monitoring framework is not easy.
In exploring designs for the programme, one of our main challenges was that we knew technologies would change through time, and we would need to be able to adaptively manage this over the long term. Our goal was not to conduct a Roman style census count of every single bat, but instead to be able to compare population indices across years and look for responses to a multiplicity of factors, including climate, changing over time. Consultations with key RSPB personnel and statistician Steve Langton helped myself and my colleagues Colin Catto, Paul Racey and Tony Hutson reach consensus on a sampling based strategy to minimise bias and maximise precision, using methods that were the best available to us at the time. Sometimes starting is the biggest hurdle in project development, and we were keen to see the UK lead the way in Europe.
Citizen Superheroes
As I have watched the progression of the NBMP from the other side of the pond, I have found it remarkable, that so many citizen scientists contribute to NBMP and that so many collaborators have joined in partnership to fund the program and keep its momentum going (Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage. Bat Conservation Ireland contributes Northern Ireland bat records collated by the Irish Bat Monitoring Programme which is funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Environment Agency). Perhaps the secret to it is in the social nature of the program. Inviting your friends over for a BBQ and bat count is certainly a unique evening’s entertainment. Or perhaps the secret is the nurturing team at BCT (notably Dr. Kate Barlow) who have continued to lead the programme, providing regular feedback to, and cherishing, volunteers. Or perhaps the magi lies with the simple mystery and love of bats. One of my future hopes is that we can quantify the social networks and wider conservation benefits of NBMP citizen science members, as I personally know many people who started out as volunteers who have carried on to invigorate local bat group bat work, initiate spin-off conservation projects, or progress into conservation careers themselves. To me, this will always remain a big success of this program, equally as important as the big data.
Allyson Walsh out with an early design detector
Back to the Future
Looking forward, where would I like NBMP to be in 20 years time? Having filled in paper forms in the drizzle last night, it goes without saying that a shift to an App based system for data recording would be a positive goal. But ultimately, rather than being the harbinger of bad or good news, I would like to see the NBMP increasingly utilized as a springboard for conservation action. Knowledge and choice gives us power. The power to make evidence based decisions and chose a different future. It is more than likely that monitoring programs like the NBMP, designed to attain a high degree of scientific rigor in the hands of the public as well as capture and kept the attention of non-scientists, will become more prevalent in our future. And I am hopeful for this future.
My hope stems from one of my fondest memories of the NBMP. One day I received a phone call from a lady with her knickers on her head. She explained to me that she had done her washing and grabbed a pair for protection because there were bats flying around the utility room inside her home, She explained she didn’t want them getting stuck in her hair. After explaining to her that she was safe (and hence could remove the knickers from her head), and what to do about the bats, our discussion then progressed to all about bats and their conservation status. By the end of the phone conversation, she had agreed to count her bats as part of the NBMP! Probably one of the biggest impacts you can make in conservation is to influence people’s mindsets and behavior, and participating in the NBMP opens up a plethora of opportunities to do just that. So if you are wavering on whether to go out in the to do that final NBMP count of the season - please do Carry On Batting!
As both an environmentalist and an amateur
astronomer, I always take my bat detector with me when I spend a night imaging
the stars. But sadly there are two things that limit the pleasure I get from my
hobbies – clouds, which I can’t do much about, and light pollution. I live near
the edge of a medium-sized town, and looking north there are virtually no stars
visible in the orange soup of the sky. To the south-west a few factories don’t
help either, but I have a wedge in the sky to the south where I can get some
reasonable views and pictures. But if I want to see or photograph faint
objects, I have to drive to darker skies.
When you are out bat-watching, how often do
you see more than a handful of stars, let alone the Milky Way?
So, I’ve decided to try and get something
done to help rescue our dark skies, and am one of a number of people
championing a petition to Government asking for action to be taken on light
pollution.
The petition now stands at nearly 7,000
signatures, but we need at least 3,000 more over the next few weeks if we are
to get a response from the Government. Such a response will be a valuable point
on which future campaigning can be built. The petition is at
As I am sure bat group members are
particularly aware, light pollution doesn’t just drown out the stars. It has a
profound effect on wildlife by affecting the daily behaviour patterns of many
species including bats, birds and many mammals. The impacts of street lighting
on moths, by attracting them out of woodland areas and making them vulnerable
to predation and possibly impacting on bat feeding patterns have been well
documented. I have heard blackbirds singing at midnight and seen birch trees
that haven’t dropped their leaves all winter - because of light pollution!
Light pollution can also disturb the sleep
patterns of humans and cause anxiety, and recent research has shown even more
worrying health effects from the disturbance to people’s body clocks.
But the most striking effect is how light
pollution robs us all of the magnificence of truly dark skies and the sight of
natural wonders like the Milky Way.
The answer is not a ban on all lighting, but
serious action to make sure the right types of light are used and in the right
places. For example, new LED lights are very efficient, but their light is
harder to filter out and the high blue content has a bigger impact on the
melatonin levels that control the body clocks of people and animals.
Please show your support by signing the
petition and passing on the message to your friends - we have been suing
thr hashtag #NightBlight, which also links to the CPRE’s impressive maps of
light pollution in the UK It’s an important step towards achieving
change.
An Introduction to the Swanton Novers Woodland Bat Project
Welcome to the first blog from the Swanton Novers Woodland
Bat Project. Supported and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project is
an exciting new venture which started this year as a collaboration between Bat
Conservation Trust and Natural England.
My role in this project is the
Volunteer Coordinator. I am the lucky soul who gets to go out into the woods with
a group of volunteers to collect important data which will allow us to learn
how bats are affected by common woodland management techniques.
The main objectives of the project are to learn how bats use
the interior of woodlands that have been actively managed, to learn how bat
activity differs between the understory and the canopy, and to raise awareness
about a natural heritage with help from the local community. The project will
focus on Swanton Novers National Nature Reserve, an 83ha ancient woodland with
a long history of active woodland management dating back to the Doomsday Book. As I don’t want to repeat myself more
information about the project can be found here - www.bats.org.uk/swanton.
What has been happening since
the project started
Since the start of the project we have deployed static detectors
three times and have carried out transect surveys throughout Swanton Novers
Great Wood in Norfolk during May and June.
April transect surveys were unfortunately cancelled due to
cold evening temperatures and chilly winds. For May, the transect surveys coincided
with the emergence of the cockchafer beetles (also known as May bugs), which
provided a feast for the serotines and noctules emerging from the woods and a
feeding frenzy was observed by the lucky surveyors. Within the centre of the
woods we picked up a few barbastelles and of course plenty of pipistrelles,
while down in the bottom part of the woods where a few active coppice
compartments are located, only pipistrelles were detected.
June transect surveys haven’t been analysed yet, but
barbastelles were recorded in the top section of the woods.
We also had our project launch on Saturday 28th of May at
the village hall in Swanton Novers, to which sixteen people came to. The evening
started at 6pm with a talk about the project by me, an introduction to bats by
Helen Miller, Woodland Officer at Bat Conservation Trust, and an insight into
Swanton Novers Woods by Ash Murray, Senior Reserve Manager at Natural England. This
was followed by tea and cake and a brief training workshop giving everyone a
chance to listen to different bat calls.
To finish off the evening we went for a walk in the woods with our
bat detectors to see what we would hear and see. On approaching the edge of the
woods just after sunset we stopped to get our bearings and were treated to a
front row view of serotines and noctules emerging out of the woods to feed on
the insects flying around. Together with a few common and soprano pipistrelles,
the bats flew above and around where we were standing for the fifteen minutes,
giving everyone an opportunity to listen to the different repetition rates and
rhythms, and observe the difference in size between the noctule and the pipistrelle
bats. Definitely one of my top highlight moments from this year so far.
We have also recruited seven volunteers from the local
community and seven volunteers from further afield. And as I write this blog we
have another interested volunteer who lives in a nearby town, not too far from
the woods. Volunteers who have helped us
with the transect surveys in May and June have learnt how to use a Peersonic
detector and observe bat activity along the predetermined routes. Also, I would like to say a HUGE thank you to
all our volunteers for all their help. In total, volunteers have contributed 104
hours (13 working days) to the Swanton Novers Woodland Bat project so far.
Our plans for the
next few months
Thanks go to our volunteer’s hard work and time, we are on track and will
continue to deploy the static detectors and each month we will do four transect
surveys. A call analysis training workshop is scheduled to take place on Monday
25th of July at Swanton Novers Village Hall, so volunteers can learn
how to analyse the data using call analysis software.
We have a Community Day planned for Sunday 7th of
August in the woods. An ideal opportunity to learn more about the woods and how
bats use the area, the day will offer a butterfly walk, minibeast hunting, a bat
walk and moth trapping sessions, together with informative displays and
activities. It is also an opportunity to meet the seasonal warden, who holds a
wealth of information about the reserve having worked in the woods for 20
years.
We will also be running a bat walk in August in the woods and
two offsite bats walks in September. Events will be posted on the Swanton
Novers webpage on the BCT website at www.bats.org.uk/swanton.
Looking for a project
which you can contribute to
We are always looking for people to help us. There is nothing better,
in my opinion, than seeing the seasonal changes within the woods. The sunset
shimmering through the bare limbs of the twisted oaks, the ground covered with
bluebells and wood anemone, the flush of new leaves swiftly followed by a lush
green carpet of bracken and of course the rush of excitement and exhilaration when
you realise you have seen/heard a rare
woodland specialist like the barbastelle. So, if you are interested and would
like to join our team on a journey of discovery then I would love to hear from
you and can be contacted by email at SReveley@bats.org.uk.
BCT is the only national organisation solely devoted to the conservation of bats and their habitats in the UK. Our vision is of a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together.
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