End of the summer season – 1Nov26

Welcome to the October 2026 Somerset Bat Group Newsletter. This time of year is when we traditionally look back at the summer batting season, and look forward to the coming hibernation surveys.

In this Newsletter:

• 2026 is a record year for the Bat Group!
• Our next Bat Group events
• The latest BCT Bat Group Bulletin includes an interesting annual update from the SNCO and BCT, which includes the news that the development of the online system for the Bat Advice Service (BAS) has been suspended, and the VBRV scheme continues in 2027.

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A record year!

With the summer bat season coming to a close and plastic Halloween bats everywhere you look, its a great time to look back at what has been a record year for the bat group.

So far in 2026 we have run 42 published events, Far surpassing our previous record of 37 in 2025. Our thanks go out to all the organisers who worked hard to make these events happen.

Included in this number are 6 nights out trapping with our grey long-eared project, which tagged and radio tracked six male greys this year. There were record number of 13 Big Bat Counts held, with many now being run and led by local organisers. Our usual Bat Box checks carried on across the Levels and Mendips, While it was also a big year for Bat Detector making workshops, the demand for these seems huge, with 13 run and long waiting lists, proving they are a great way to introduce new people to our batty passion!

A summary of the bat group events run over the years is shown in the graph below:

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Our next events

Come along and get involved! The next events coming up are:

• Jan’27 – National Bat Monitoring Hibernation counts.
• 6/7 Feb – Bat Detector workshops at Somerset Earth Science Centre (details coming soon)
• 3 April – Heal Bat Detector Workshop
• 17 April – 2027 Bat Group Annual meeting

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