O’Malley KD, et al. (2023). An acoustic-based method for locating maternity colonies of rare woodland bats

Locating colonies of rare bats can be a time consuming process, as it is often difficult to know where to focus survey effort. However, identifying peaks of bat activity via acoustic monitoring may provide insights into whether a colony is locally present, and help screen out sites with low potential. Using a triage approach, we developed a survey methodology for locating colonies of the woodland-specialist barbastelle bat (Barbastella barbastellus). We investigated whether woodland occupancy by a colony could be predicted by acoustic data, and assessed the influence of survey effort (number of acoustic detectors deployed) on detectability.

PeerJ11:e15951

If you go down to the woods tonight…

VWT’s Henry Schofield reports on the ecological needs and requirements of Britain’s bats in the Woodland Trust’s ‘WoodWise’ magazine.

Design of a slot bat box

The slot bat box was designed to imitate niches where crevice dwelling bats might roost; such as a split in a tree trunk or behind loose bark. The three vertical ‘slots’ each of a different width, offers a choice that several species of bat, depending on their size, might use. The upper section of the two partition walls have been cut away to allow bats an area to cluster, conserve energy and breed.