Getting on well in Wytham and Wiltshire

After a good first few nights of bat catching it was time to increase the survey effort and do a full week of surveying.

Bechsteins bat (Photo: Paul Kennedy)

On Monday I was with Avon Bat Group at a site overlooking Bath just on the Bristol and Avon side of the Wiltshire border. Choosing the trap location is one of the most important parts of the evening as if you don’t have you trap set up properly in a good location you reduce your chances of catching. At this site not only did I have to consider the density of the undergrowth, the tree species in the area and the distance from paths, I also had to make sure my traps were far enough away from the group of kids that were messing around. I needn’t have worried however, as the rain shower that passed over before we were due to start the survey got rid of them. Our captures at this site were top draw; we caught three of my target species as well as a Bechstein’s bat which is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List has requires special measures for conservation under European legislation.

Tuesday I was at a well studied woodland called Wytham in Oxfordshire. We caught five different species including Leislers and Noctule. The Noctule is the UK’s biggest bat with a wing span approaching half a meter. Leislers are a slightly smaller, but none the less impressive relative, both in the Nyctalus genus.

Noctule on the left, Leislers on the right
(Photo: Dani Linton)

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were spent at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust sites. All sites produced some good captures and at one reserve they were so impressed with our capture of a Barbastelle bat they put out a press release. Off the back of this I did an interview with local radio station Spire FM and the Western Daily Press wrote an article: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Bat-man-uncovers-mystery-resident-oldest-nature/story-19680756-detail/story.html.

Leislers left, Noctule right. Next to the Noctule this Leislers
looks tiny, but it is still one of the UK's largest bats!
(Photo: Dani Linton)

I’ll also be on BBC Radio Wiltshire this coming Sunday (25^th August 2013) at around 11:30am doing an interview with Marie Lennon as part of her nature programme “Wild About Wiltshire”!

After a week of catching a good number of bats and diversity species in the South, including some really rare species, it was time to head up the M5 to Herefordshire and then the Midlands to see what woodland slightly further north had to offer. Check back soon and all will be revealed!

I am studying for a self-funded MSc at the University of Bristol with equipment and support from the Bat Conservation Trust http://www.bats.org.uk/ and training and guidance from Daniel Whitby of AEWC Ltd. If you would like to contact me about my research please email: philip.brown@bristol.ac.uk