Lets Meet! – 3 Apr26

Posted on by somersetbatgroup in Bat News, SBG Events, SBG News, SBG Newsletter

The clocks have spring forward, bats are well and truly out of hibernation, so it’s time to meet up!
In this Somerset Bat Group Newsletter:

Bat Group Annual meeting

We will hold our 2026 annual meeting, in Othery Village Hall in central Somerset.
Please come along to hear what we are up to, and have your say in the running of the group

We will not be doing a hybrid Zoom/live meeting this year, as we found in the past that this was not a good experience online.

Agenda, Accounts and pre-meeting reports are on our website, with direct links below:

If you would like to:

  • raise any matter as AOB at the AGM,
  • stand for the committee of SBG, 
  • or send your apologies if you can’t attend

Then please email us ASAP:  somersetbatgroup@gmail.com

BCT South West Bat Conference – Barnstable

Booking has now opened for the South West of England Bat Conference 2026, which is being held on the 25th of April at North Devon College (Petroc), Barnstaple, EX31 2BQ. Many group members will be attending or presenting.

This one-day event is an opportunity for anyone interested in bats, from hobbyists and volunteers to professional bat workers, to spend time together updating their knowledge, sharing best practice, developing their skills and catching up on the latest ‘bat chat’. The day includes a mixture of short and long talks on projects and new knowledge, and a choice of practical workshops. There will also be plenty of time for catching up with friends or making some new acquaintances among the other bat enthusiasts!

To book your place at the conference, please see our website: https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/conferences-symposia/english-regional-bat-conferences/south-west-of-england-bat-conference

Please note: the programme of talks and workshops is still in development. We will send updates regarding this as more speakers and workshops are confirmed.

New Bat Planning and Licensing Systems

In case you missed it Natural England (NE) published an important blog update on Tuesday:

In this they say “To support resilient bat populations we need to think at the scale of whole landscapes and focus our efforts to where they will have the greatest impact”. There is also talk of “flexible survey requirements” and “greater emphasis on the effectiveness of compensation measures”. A lot to consider.

You can also read CIEEM’s response here:

While CIEEM seems to be saying that they have assurances from NE that Bat District style licensing will not be applied to “high-value roost sites”, it does sound like it is under consideration for low value roosts.

As always the devil is in the detail, or the implementation in this case.

Avalon Marshes Bat Detector Workshops

The meeting room at the Avalon Marshes centre is a lovely peaceful place to build a Bat Detector. The event was promoted by the Wildlife Trust and its proved to be popular, as it sold out within two days, with a lengthy waiting list.

Andy ran two workshops on Sat 28th March, morning and afternoon, and everyone left with a working bat detector that they had made. Success!

More workshops are coming up, see the events page on our website for details: https://somersetbat.group/events/

The next Bat group Events

There are lots of things planned, so come along and get involved! The next events are:

  • Sat 11th April – Bat Detector / Ultrasound recorder Building Workshops, Taunton
  • BAT GROUP Annual meeting – Sat 18th APRIL 2PM (see above)
  • Sat 25th April – BCT South West Bat Conference (see above)
  • Fri 1st May – Frome Big Bat Count
  • Sat 2nd May – Kings Castle bat box checks
  • Sun 10th May – Levels bat box checks
  • Tues 12th May – Axevale Big Bat Count
  • Sat 16th May – Ham Wall bat box checks
  • Sat 16th May – Shepton Beauchamp Big Bat Count
  • Tues 19th May – Heal Rewilding Big Bat Count
  • Sun 24th May – Great Breach Woods bat box checks

Details of how to get involved for all events are on the website: https://somersetbat.group/events/

Can you help with…?

The bat group receives far more requests for help than the committee can do. Hence please get in touch if you think you could help out with this recent requests:

  • Exmoor Coastal Group in Porlock would like a talk on bats to their members. They suggest Tuesday 27th October in Porlock village hall, or in 2027 on the 4th Tuesday of the month in either March, April, May, October or November 2027.

Bat group bulletin

The latest BCT Bat Group Bulletin includes news of a new Bat Conservation Manifesto.

All past editions of the Bulletin can be found on this page of our website:

Membership Renewal time

It’s the time of the year to think about membership of the bat group. There are currently:

  • 74 members who last paid membership in 2025, and their membership expires at our annual meeting in a couple of weeks
  • 41 ex.members who last paid membership in 2024, and we would welcome them to re-join.

We will send an email to each member detailing your current membership status, so please check your inbox (and spam).

It costs just £5 per household to rejoin the bat group (free for students/unwaged), and your renewed membership would then run until our April 2027 annual meeting, on 17/4/27.

For regular members, you might like to consider taking out lifetime membership, which is just £50 per household.

Please pay your membership subs by BaCs or Paypal. Then:

  • If your details have changed, then complete our online membership form to update your information. 
  • OR, if nothings changed, simply just drop us an email to let us know you have paid.

Full details on our website: https://somersetbat.group/join/