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