This newsletter is being sent out early to bring you exciting news of success in our grey-long-eared project. Included is:
- Reports from two trapping weekends, and details of the GLE caught and tracked.
- There have been lots of Big Bat Counts happening across the county.
- Update on other Bat Group events.
- Lots of other batty happenings for you to take part in.
- The latest BCT Bat Group Bulletin is now published below.
- There is still time for our 2023 members to renew their membership.
Grey long-eared Project Update
Trapping Session 3 – Exmoor 2nd and 3rd August
These sessions were led by Liz from the bat group and Fiona Mathews.
Fri 2nd was at Dunster Castle and Liz said “Team Bat were on a winning streak with 7 bats:
- 4 Lesser horseshoe
- 1 Common Pipistrelle
- 1 Whiskered
- and 1 small Myotis which escaped the net while untangling errant walkers
Team Nighthawk (don’t ask I don’t make up the names) with 4 bats; Common and Soprano Pipistrelle, brown long-eared and whiskered.”
Sat 3rd Aug was on the nearby Holnicote Estate and Liz reports: “Well, we threw everything at them, 7 nets (including one triple high) and 5 Harp Traps, and still no GLE. Nineteen bats in total:
- 12 Common Pipistrelle (1 female)
- 6 brown long-eareds (3 female)
- and a male Natterer’s right at the end.
A good training night and a nice variety of biscuits to make up for the lack of variety in bats. Thanks again to Fiona for making the weekend possible, and to Fiona and Ali for bringing along their kit”
Trapping Session 4 – 16th and 17th August
Daniel was back leading with Paul, on Friday the 16th, near Highbridge.
In what may prove to be a night that goes down in bat group history, a really busy night with a total of 53 bats were caught across 7 species.
And the first bat in the net (and the last of the night) was a grey-long-eared! A total of 3 male GLE were caught and two fitted with radio tags.
Unfortunately the groups basic web hosting does not allow embedded videos, however these links should work for most devices:
The busy night continued right through the night until the last GLE at 2AM. There was often a queue of bats to process. The species caught were:
- Grey Long-eared (all male)
- Brown long-eared
- Common Pipistrelle
- Soprano Pipistrelle
- Natterer’s
- Whiskered
- Serotine
The two GLE that were radio tagged, are both being tracked during the daytime to find their roosts. One is in a church, the other in a nearby farm building.
On Saturday the 17th August we decided to cross the border and invade North Somerset, near Kewstoke. Fortunately Samuel from the Avon Bat Group was on hand to chaperone us.
On a blustery night with the occasional patter of rain. The previous night proved to be a short lived success, with just 12 bats across 3 species caught.
- 1 Brown long-eared
- 6 Common pipistrelle
- 3 Natterer’s
- 2 Daubenton’s
Unusually for an open orchard pasture, with no obvious fresh water nearby, it was a surprise to get two Daubenton’s.
Big Bat Count reports
It’s been a busy August for Big Bat Counts with 4 in 8 days! All the recordings from the 2024 counts to date have now been analysed and verifiable records uploaded to iNaturalist.
See all 2024 results on our website: https://somersetbat.group/bats/count/big2024/
The results FAQ aims to answer many common questions about the processed results, including an explanation of why the numbers of “on the night” observations, and verified records, differ.
Fri 9th August – Beggearn Huish Big Bat Count
Thanks to Helen for organising our first Big Bat Count on the edge of Exmoor. Around 20 people met outside a lovely barn to set off in 6 teams around this small rural hamlet.
Of the 57 bat observations, the most frequent were Common and then Soprano (Pygmy) Pipistrelle. A total of 11 species were AutoIDed, the 3 big bats, 5 Myotis and Nathusius’.
Initial unverified observations from the 9th August are in iNaturalist
- 11 Species observed during the Big Bat Count
- Bat Map produced on the night of the 57 unverified observations
The bat recordings made on the night, and stored on the tablets, have now been analysed. There are 40 extra verifiable recordings uploaded to iNaturalist across 6 species; Common Pipistrelle, Soprano (Pygmy) Pipistrelle, Daubenton’s, Whiskered Bat, Brown Long-eared and Serotine.
SAT 10TH AUGUST – CASTLE CARY BIG BAT COUNT
The location of our first Big Bat Count, and now our third one in Cary. Thanks again to group member Neville for superb organising.
Around 30 people met in the School Rooms under the Methodist church, to split off into 6 groups. An outage of the EE mobile network in the area meant that not all teams were able to upload results, however the bat recordings have been saved and records uploaded during verification later.
82 bat observations across 6 species were able to be uploaded on the night. Approaching half were Common Pipistrelle, with Serotine and Noctule being the next most frequent.
Initial unverified observations from the night are in iNaturalist:
The bat recordings made on the night, and stored on the tablets, have now been analysed. There are 57 extra verifiable results uploaded to iNaturalist across 5 species; Common Pipistrelle, Serotine, Noctule, Soprano (Pygmy) Pipistrelle and Daubenton’s.
FRI 16TH AUG – FROME BIG BAT COUNT #2
Another record breaking night in Frome! Our many thanks to Frome Town Council for hosting, and Jo in particular for the superb organising! Our thanks also Steve Roe, BCT Trustee, who recorded an episode of the podcast Bat Chat, hopefully for broadcast next year.
On a still, warm and clear evening around 60 people in 11 teams made a total of 210 bat observations. Common and then Soprano (Pygmy) Pipistrelle made up the majority of sightings. But there were 10 other species, including a number of Noctule, and a couple of Greater Horseshoes, a first for a Frome Big Bat Count.
Thank you to everyone who took part to make it such a success. Please do email any photos from the night to Jo or somersetbatgroup@gmail.com.
Initial unverified observations from the night are in iNaturalist:
The bat recordings made on the night, and stored on the tablets, have been analysed, and there are now an extra 89 verifiable bat recordings uploaded to iNaturalist across 6 species: Common Pipistrelle, Soprano (Pygmy) Pipistrelle, Serotine, Noctule, Daubenton’s and a first for a Frome count, a Greater Horseshoe Bat recorded along the river in Rodden Meadows.
- 6 Verifiable species from Frome Big Bat Count 16th Aug 2024
- Bat map of the 89 verifiable bat recordings from Frome Big Bat Count 16/8/24
- Validated “Research Grade” bat records
Sat 17th AUG – Bridgwater BIG BAT COUNT
Thank you to the friends of Wilstock and Stockmoor Country Park for superb organising, and the team from Dunwear group who joined in.
Around 25 people met on a overcast night with a surprisingly chilly wind to split up into 6 survey teams. A total of 90 bat observations were made across 7 species, with Soprano (Pygmy) Pipistrelle and Noctule making up the majority of the sightings.
Initial unverified results from the night are in iNaturalist:
The bat recordings made on the night, and stored on the tablets, have been analysed, and it was a challenge as many recordings contained several species, both pips and big bats together. This was especially true at Dunwear.
There are now an extra 79 verifiable bat recordings uploaded to iNaturalist across 6 species, 4 of which are commoner species: Soprano (Pygmy) Pipistrelle, Noctule, Common Pipistrelle, Daubenton’s. The records for the rarer Lesser Noctule (Leisler’s) and Barbastelle will need to be looked at closely by more bat experts, before they can become verified “Research grade” records.
- 6 Verifiable species from Bridgwater Big Bat Count 17th Aug 2024
- Bat map of the 79 verifiable bat recordings from Bridgwater Big Bat Count 17/8/24
- Validated “Research Grade” bat records
Bat Walk Write-up – Tues 20th AUGUST
About 30 members of Wells & District Wildlife Group met at Bishop’s Palace Moat for a Bat Walk. Adel was leading, but it is a walk Dave has led for many, many years, and he, and Tom, still came along to help.
Quite a windy night with overcast skies, it wasn’t a record breaking bat night. However it started well with 3 lesser horseshoes flitting around in the portcullis window. They didn’t come out, maybe because of the wind, the floodlights, or maybe because there were loads of folk watching!
Around to the park, and common and soprano pipistrelle put on their usual display around the trees, while a Serotine did a couple of flybys.
The evening closed with watching Daubenton’s skimming the water at the far end of the moat.
Our next bat group events
There are lots of things planned, so come along and get involved!
- W’end 30/31st Aug – Kingsdon Big Bat Count
- W’end 30/31st Aug – Lytes Cary Big Bat Count
- W’end 6/7/8th Sept – Stoke St.Gregory Cary Big Bat Count
- Fri 13th Sept – Ham Hill Big Bat Count
- Sat 14th Sept – Great Breach and Ham Wall bat box checks
- Sun 15th Sept – Harridge bat box checks
- (new date) Sat 21st Sept – Levels bat box checks
- Sat 21st Sept – Taunton Big Bat Count
- Sun 22nd Sept – Edford bat box checks
For details on how to join these events please see the events page on our website: https://somersetbat.group/events
Bat Group Bulletin
The latest BCT Bat Group Bulletin includes news of new EBLV positive bats in Somerset bats
You can see all past bulletins on our website:
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME
For our 2023 members, their membership of the bat group lapsed at the end of April. Hence there are still 39 people for who it is time to renew their membership.
Please pay your membership subs by BaCs or Paypal then complete our online membership form to update your information. Full details are on our website: https://somersetbat.group/join/