The first six surveys of the season

I am well under way with my data collection carrying out surveys five or six nights a week. At the end of July I gently eased myself into my field season by surveying two sites near Bristol, two in Bedfordshire and two and Cambridgeshire over two weeks.

The very first site I surveyed was on a steep hill which was made even trickier to negotiate when carrying the heavy equipment into the woods to set up the traps. This first night went reasonably well, we caught eight bats of three species, unfortunately none of my target species (Brandt’s Whiskered or Alcathoe). At this site there were no previous bat records, so everything we caught was new information for the site.

Barbastelle caught in Bedfordshire
(Photo: Bob Cornes)

The next night was also spent walking up and down hills, this time close to the River Avon. The Avon bat group monitor the bat boxes on the site, but have never had a Daubentons in a box. We caught two of them in addition to a couple of other species.

Then it was off to Cambridgeshire for my least successful night so far. We caught one Brown Long Eared bat and then got rained on, so had to pack up early and go home. The less said about that survey the better!

Just over the border into Bedfordshire was more successful. In addition to a few other bats we caught a Barbastelle bat. This was the first of this species I’d seen and handled. I was certainly very privileged as this bat is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN red list http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/2553/0 and is that rare that it is not only protected by UK law (all bats in the UK are protected by law) but also by European legislation.

Serotine, notice the use of heavy duty gloves for this big old bat
(Photo: Philip Gould)

Another night in Bedfordshire saw us catch a Serotine, this was a first for me too (Bedfordshire is obviously the place to be)! The Serotine is a large bat which has broad wings and flys quite slowly.

Then it was back to Cambridgeshire. To finish the week and my first few surveys off nicely we caught my first Whiskered, Brandt’s or Alcathoe bat. We got a couple of droppings from the bat which will undergo DNA analysis to give a positive species identification. We recorded as many morphological features as possible and I’ve got a good idea as to what species I think it is. I won’t be able to find out if I am right until October when I do the DNA analysis. Watch this space!

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