Bat Group Talk - Batting in Hungary by Tricia Scott plus AGM

There are many more species of bats in Eastern Europe than in the UK – not least because they have not been subject to the same development pressures and the effects of intensive farming. Tricia took the opportunity of a guided tour of bats in Hungary in 2015 and then went back in 2016 to ‘help out’ with a woodland bats radiotracking project in the Aggtelek and Bukk national parks in the northeast of the country.

About Tricia Scott:
Tricia became interested in bats after the warden of a SSSI where she volunteered offered to take her along when he was checking the bat boxes there. She subsequently joined Warksbats and did her MSc thesis on ‘Bats in the Planning System’. She got dragged onto the Warksbats committee and now spends a lot of her time doing batty things.

Everyone welcome!

£3 for Warwickshire Bat Group members or £4 for non members

When: Wednesday 15th March at 8:00pm
Where: Community Room, The Kenilworth
Centre, Abbey End Car Park, Kenilworth CV8 1QJ

Bat Group Talk - Habitat use, Roost use and Social Calls of Brown Long Eared Bats by Stephanie Murphy

The Brown Long Eared (BLE) bat, Plecotus
auritus , is different from many other UK bats in the way in which it uses its ears to detect prey, but is there anything different about the way they use social calls? The talk will focus on habitat use of brown long-eared bats in woodland, roost use looking at difference between tree roosting and house roosting bats and will look at how brown long-eared bats use social calls.

About Stephanie Murphy:
Stephanie undertook her research on brown long-eared bats at the University of Sussex. She is now the director of Arbeco Ltd which is a company that deals with ecology, arboriculture and habitat management.

Everyone welcome!

£3 for Warwickshire Bat Group members or £4 for non members

When: Wednesday 15th February at 8:00pm
Where: Community Room, The Kenilworth
Centre, Abbey End Car Park, Kenilworth CV8 1QJ

Bat box check at Draycote Water

We held a bat box check tonight, to hunt for Nathusius' pipistrelles (or anything else) at Draycote Water.

   

Interestingly many of the Schwegler 2F boxes have evidence of birds nesting include two with blue tits in residence. Many of the boxes had plenty of bat droppings, particularly the flat boxes. One of the flat boxes contained a single soprano pipistrelle.

Bat Group Talk - Thermal Imaging in Bat Work by Dr Kayleigh Fawcett

Thermal Imaging is a hot (excuse the pun) topic in the world of bats. It provides a non-invasive method to study behaviour, complementing traditional techniques with cutting edge technology and has enabled new insight into bat behaviour, especially on a landscape scale that could be vital in shaping how mitigation and compensation measures are designed.

Kayleigh will be talking about the technology, its applications, her experiences and potential for future directions in this new and exciting field. The meeting will also include a very brief AGM.

About Kayleigh :
Dr Kayleigh Fawcett is a Senior Ecological Consultant based in the Nottingham.

Kayleigh used thermal imaging technology in academic research projects as part of her PhD research on a variety of bat species in Denmark, Belize and Canada and subsequently over the past two years she has been using and developing thermal imaging techniques to survey for bats on a variety of projects.

Everyone welcome!

£3 for Warwickshire Bat Group members or £4 for non members

When: Wednesday 16th March at 7:30pm

Where: Community Room, The Kenilworth Centre, Abbey End Car Park, Kenilworth CV8 1QJ

As this is a new venue for us this season, here are some detailed directions:If you're driving North through Kenilworth town centre: When you get to the clock tower roundabout take the second exit (straight on) and then, with the Holiday Inn on your left, turn right down the side of the Almanack pub. Follow the road round to the right and the Kenilworth Centre is on your left. There is a high mesh fence at the front.

On foot, with the clock tower at your back, walk through the gap in the shops by Lil Greens and the Kenilworth Centre will be in front of you.

Once in the building, the Community Rooms are upstairs (there is a lift).

Members' event - searching for Barbastelles

Last week a group of Warwickshire Bat Group members carried out bat box checks as part of the ongoing monitoring of boxes put up specifically to attract the rare Barbastelle bat. Endoscopes were used to look in the boxes, in order to minimise any potential disturbance of the bats. (Jon holds a licence which allows him to do this, since disturbing bats in their roosts is a criminal offence unless you hold a licence to do so.) The majority of the boxes were unoccupied, but some contained one or two pipistrelles. But finally our perseverance was rewarded - one box did contain a Barbastelle and the endoscope enabled us to get this picture of him up in the box.

Pipistrelle in a bat box

Barbastelle in a bat box

Almost all of the bats we saw in the boxes were awake, which is a worrying feature of this Winter. It's not been cold enough for bats to go fully into hibernation, but since the weather isn't warm enough at night for there to be many (if any) insects flying, bats that are awake risk using up their fat reserves before Spring and may die before the insect populations are sufficient to allow them to feed.

Non-invasive checks

Group members with endoscope

  

Bat Group Talk – The Impact of Woodland Management on Bats by Ian Tanner

There has been a general presumption that woodlands provide a fantastic habitat for bats and that maintaining the extent of a woodland is the key conservation objective. Ian’s studies suggest that not only do bats require positive conservation management within woodlands but that a lack of consideration for bats can and does lead to a loss of at least some bat species from a woodland. This talk considers how best to manage woodlands for bats.
About Ian Tanner:
Ian Tanner has been a member and supporter of Warwickshire Bat Group since the mid 1990’s when he arrived in in the County to undertake the Habitat Biodiversity Audit for Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, which is now in its 21st year. Ian spends much of his spare time involved in bat conservation related activities.
Everyone welcome!
£3 for Warwickshire Bat Group members or £4 for non members
When: Wednesday 17 th February at 7:30pm
Where: Community Room, The Kenilworth Centre, Abbey End Car Park, Kenilworth CV8 1QJ
As this is a new venue for us this season, here are some detailed directions:If you're driving North through Kenilworth town centre: When you get to the clock tower roundabout take the second exit (straight on) and then, with the Holiday Inn on your left, turn right down the side of the Almanack pub. Follow the road round to the right and the Kenilworth Centre is on your left. There is a high mesh fence at the front.
On foot, with the clock tower at your back, walk through the gap in the shops by Lil Greens and the Kenilworth Centre will be in front of you.
Once in the building, the Community Rooms are upstairs (there is a lift).

Bat Group Talk - Gib Bats – the bats of Gibraltar by James Shipman

Gib-Bats is working on establishing which species is where and at what time of the year. They aim to use those data to advise the Government on what can be done to:

1. protect those sites
2. protect those habitats 
3. protect those species
4. encourage the species population to recover

James will talk about the bats of Gibraltar and what he has found, hopes to find and plans to do in the future

About James Shipman:
James  has a BSc (Hons) in Zoology and is Chair of Berks & South Bucks Bat Group. In 2013 he led a team of UK specialists in contacting the Gibraltar Museum, Dept for the Environment and the Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society, to start a project looking at bats in Gibraltar.

Everyone welcome!

£3 for Warwickshire Bat Group members or £4 for non members

When: Wednesday 13th January 2016 at 7:30pm

Please note that we are using a new venue for this winter's talks -  Community Room, The Kenilworth Centre, Abbey End Car Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire. CV8 1JP

Note that this season we are using a new venue
As this is a new venue for us this season, here are some detailed directions:If you're driving North through Kenilworth town centre: When you get to the clock tower roundabout take the second exit (straight on) and then, with the Holiday Inn on your left, turn right down the side of the Almanack pub. Follow the road round to the right and the Kenilworth Centre is on your left. There is a high mesh fence at the front.
On foot, with the clock tower at your back, walk through the gap in the shops by Lil Greens and the Kenilworth Centre will be in front of you.
Once in the building, the Community Rooms are upstairs (there is a lift).