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).

Bat Group Christmas Social, Quiz & slides by Tricia Scott

 Come and join us for a social event, with food, drinks and a quiz (or two). ....and Tricia will share the photos from her trip to see bats in Hungary.

Everyone welcome!

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

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 year we are using a new venue
As this is a new venue for us this year, 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 Social Calls - a talk by Dr Jon Russ

Bats not only use echolocation to navigate, but also use complex calls to communicate with each other.  There is a great deal of mystery of what these calls are used for, some are certainly important in courtship, but what else can these often melodic sounds mean?  Jon Russ will present a talk to help lift the veil.

About Jon:
Jon obtained a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from The University of Aberdeen, followed by a PhD at Queen's University Belfast on the distribution, species composition and vocalisations of Northern Ireland's bats. Jon is currently owner of Ridgeway Ecology Ltd, an ecological consultancy specialising in bats.

He is also the author of “British Bat Calls: A Guide to Species Identification”

Everyone welcome!

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

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

Tricia introducing Jon's talk

Note that this year we are using a new venue
As this is a new venue for us this year, 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).

New membership leaflet

We've had a lovely new membership leaflet designed for us.

Why not download it and take a look? http://www.warksbats.co.uk/pdf/MembershipLeaflet.pdf .

Bat Group Talk - Kerb Crawling for Bats, Worcestershire Bat Group’s Adventures with iBats. A talk by Mike Glyde

In 2013 Worcestershire Bat Group became a member of the Bat Conservation Trust’s iBats programme which involves surveying as many of the roads in Worcestershire as possible using bat detectors attached to moving cars travelling at 15mph. A GPS is used to georeference the calls. Mike will present the results of the project which has been hugely successful and to date has covered more than 1000km of roads in the county and generated over 2262 bat records

About Mike: Mike Glyde is the current Chair and active member of the Worcestershire Bat Group. He worked as a Historic Environment Planning Officer for Worcestershire County Council before joining Amec as a consultant

When: Monday 12th October at 7:30pm

Where: Community Room, The Kenilworth Centre, Abbey End Car Park, Kenilworth CV8 1QJ
Note that this is a new venue for us.
As it's a new venue, 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.

Everyone Welcome

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

Friends of Abbey Fields bat walk

The annual bat walk and talk took place on Wednesday evening, July 8th. The weather was fine though not as warm as in the previous week.

The talk was given by Dr Jon Russ, a local bat expert and professional ecologist. Three of his colleagues from the Warwickshire Bat Group, Tricia, John and Julia, joined him to help people spot the bats on the walk, which was fortunate because a group of 35 people gathered in the corner of Abbey Fields car park at 9:15 pm to hear what Jon had to say.

Jon gave a short and informative talk about bats in general and those species to be found in Warwickshire. He also explained some of the reasons why their numbers have declined in previous decades, although the decline is being halted and may even be reversing for some species, thanks to the efforts of volunteer bat groups and the Bat Conservation Trust.

Jon gives an introductory talk in the car park

Jon and Tricia showed the assembled people two pipistrelle bats which are currently in the care of a local bat carer, having been found unable to fly. Although one was feeling well enough to eat one of the mealworms which Jon had brought along to show what is fed to bats in care. The normal food of wild bats is flying insects - so every time we heard a bat catch an insect, that was one less to bite us as we walked around!

After seeing the bats in the hand, we walked over among the trees by the old Abbey barn and gatehouse, where a number of the Bat Group's bat detectors were shared out, so that people could hear as well as see the bats hunting insects over our heads. These were Britain's smallest bats: common and soprano pipistrelles.

watching soprano and common pipistrelles feeding next to the Abbey Gatehouse

We then walked over to the lake in the hope of seeing Daubenton's bats but unfortunately there was a bit of a cool breeze and the Daubenton's didn't seem to have come out to hunt over the water, although we continued to hear pipistrelles there and as we walked around by the back of the swimming pool. We also saw and heard noctules, Britain's largest bat.

Looking for Daubenton's over the lake

Jon had been hoping to hear the rare Nathusius' pipistrelle by the lake, since some other members of the bat group had heard one earlier that week, but they didn't appear on this occasion.

Nathusius' bats were proving to be elusive but the pipistrelles still put on a fine show 

Bat Group car survey training

We're running a car survey training session on Saturday 16th May starting at 7:45pm at the Green Man, 68 Warwick Road, Kenilworth, CV8 1HS.

(http://www.emberinns.co.uk/the-green-man-kenilworth/)

We’re going to run through the equipment and methodology for about an hour and then cram ourselves into 1 or 2 cars to have a go at actually surveying for about another hour – so we should finish at around 9:30 - 10pm.

Checking bat boxes at WWT reserves

We've been checking the bat boxes at some of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust's reserves with Kate Sharma. Kate holds an appropriate licence from Natural England to be able to handle bats, and is kindly giving other bat group members the chance to see bats close up.

Kate checking bat boxes

Measuring the forearm

A male Leisler's that was almost too heavy for us to weigh!

Bats & Science: Projects & Research at BCT - a talk by Lisa Worledge

This talk is about the various research projects that the Bat Conservation Trust is involved with. It will put current research in the context of BCT’s overall objectives and of four key research themes:

1. improving assessment of species status; 
2. understanding and mitigating the impact of humans; 
3. habitat and landscape management;  
4. the role of bats in ecosystems. 

For each of these themes we’ll consider some of the current projects underway as well as some of the things we’d like to do in the future.

Lisa started at BCT in May 2011 as Partnerships Officer, liaising between BCT and bat groups. Her interest in bats was first sparked by a bat walk with the Birmingham and Black Country Bat Group in 2008, she was so hooked she joined the committee later that same year.

When: 7.30 p.m. Wednesday, 25th March

Where: The Barn, Brandon Marsh (Warwickshire Wildlife Trust HQ)

Everyone Welcome

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

Annual General Meeting followed by A Talk on Caring for Bats – roost visits, batty churches and grounded bats by Penny Angold

A light-hearted look at the origins a

nd purpose of bat groups, exploring experiences in voluntary bat care such as roost visits, bat rescue and the rewards and challenges involved.

Penny has many years’ experience as an ecological consultant.

Preceded by a short AGM. 

When: 

Tuesday, 24 February 2015 19:30 - 21:30

Where: 

Committee Room Brandon Marsh (in main building of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust HQ)

Everyone Welcome!

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

Waterways' bats & their conservation - a talk by Paul Wilkinson

Paul will be speaking about his recent research project on woodland ponds and their importance to the conservation status of bats. He will be comparing urban, suburban and rural canals with lots of areas for potential research to take forward.
He will also introduce some roosts in bridges that members of Warwickshire Bat Group will be able to participate in monitoring. 

Paul has been with the Canal & River Trust for 12 years and in that time has been able to study many canals, tunnels and buildings with some interesting insights into how they all differ. He says of himself: "I was born an ecologist with an interest in everything and have always had a fascination for water and the wildlife that is attracted to it."

When: 7.30 p.m. Wednesday 29th January 

Where: The Barn, Brandon Marsh (Warwickshire Wildlife Trust HQ)

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

Includes tea/coffee & biscuits.

Burton & Swift* Present Ecological Explorations in Construction - a Christmas Bat Group talk

A Christmas talk about the practicalities, perils and pitfalls of ecological work.

• Cringe at Chiropterans with an inverted sense of humour!
• Boggle at bolshy Badgers!
• Gasp at Greatcrestednewts!!

Can the audience recount even more extraordinary experiences??

ABOUT BURTON & SWIFT

George Burton has innumerable years’ experience in architecture.

Anna Swift has been working in ecology-related roles for longer than she cares to remember.

*Burton & Speke are unable to attend due to a misunderstanding with a hippopotamus during an ecological consultancy on developing the Nile.

When: 7.30 p.m. Wednesday 17th December

Where: The Barn, Brandon Marsh (Warwickshire Wildlife Trust HQ)

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

Includes mince pies as well as the usual tea/coffee & biscuits.

An Introduction to the Wytham Bat Project (2006 - 2014) a talk by Danielle Linton

Wytham Wood

Since 2006 Danielle Linton has been coordinating groups of volunteers to check the EGI bird boxes in Wytham Woods looking for bat roosts. Over 21,000 box checks of the 1265 Schwegler boxes have resulted in over 1000 roosts (>80% boxes used to date) being recorded. Three species regularly form maternity colonies in the boxes: Myotis daubentonii, Myotis nattereri and Plecotus auritus, and seven species have been found in boxes at Wytham so far...

Over 3000 individual bats have been ringed in nine years and this study has revealed much valuable information on bat social networks, colony home roost ranges and population dynamics at this site. Following individual life histories and monitoring juvenile health (size and survivorship) per annum also provides some fascinating insights...

come along to find out more!

Introducing Dani Linton

When:
7.30 p.m. Wednesday 19th November

Where:
The Barn, Brandon Marsh
(Warwickshire Wildlife Trust HQ)

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

Bat Group Talk on Nathusius bats by our very own Jon Russ

When: 7.30 p.m. Wednesday 22nd October
Where: The Barn, Brandon Marsh
(Warwickshire Wildlife Trust HQ)

Nathusius' pipistrelle is one of Britain's rarest bats with only a handful of maternity colonies known, although records of individuals are widespread. Jon will discuss what records of Nathusius' pipistrelle can tell us about the status of the species in Britain and how recent research is adding to our knowledge of the species migratory behaviour. Topics include species identification, migration, range expansion, habitat associations and threats.

Jon presenting his data at the talk.

About Jon: Jon obtained a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from The University of Aberdeen, followed by a PhD at Queen's University Belfast on the distribution, species composition and vocalisations of Northern Ireland's bats. Jon is currently owner of Ridgeway Ecology, an ecological consultancy specialising in bats.