Bat Care by Morgan Bowers

We had another well attended evening for a very interesting and informative talk about bat care from Morgan Bowers of Birmingham & Black Country Bat group - brumbats.org.uk

The talk included somed live bats, Morgan with a pipistrelle and Jackie with a whiskered.

Bat Group talk - Bat Care by Morgan Bowers

Assessing Potential Bat Roost Features In Trees

Bat Group members, friends and family, were treated to a fascinating Talk by Henry Andrews on Thursday 21 February about the range of different hidey-holes that pesky little creatures like bats choose to use as their roost sites.

Henry has climbed and investigated in the region of 500 trees and, using this wealth of experience, has compiled a key which attempts to classify the main potential tree roost features and the different species of bats they are likely to support.  

Henry explained how tree cavities are created and how to recognise them from external features.  Importantly, he has compiled a dossier of data which reveals that different shaped cavities are exploited by different species of bat – the selection is far from random!  What’s more, the shape and physical form of tree roost cavities bear a remarkable similarity to the shape and physical form of roosts in buildings.

Amazingly, Henry has made all the material available as a free download from the web; you can find it at http://www.aecol.co.uk.  He describes the key as work in progress and would really appreciate any information people have about any tree roosts they have come across so that the key can be added to and further refined.