Hats off to Bats!
Summer nights are ideal to be sitting in the garden or by the river and this is also the ideal time to spot bats.
Bats are fascinating mammals and are a sign of a healthy environment but unfortunately their numbers are declining.
Cambridge City Greenways Project, part of Wildlife Trust for Cambridgeshire, is setting up a major new project called ‘Hats off to Bats’. The project wants to discover where bats can be found in the city and to do this we need the help of Cambridge residents!
Our Cambridge bat survey hopes to identify exactly where in the city bats can be found so we know where to concentrate our conservation work. There are at least six species found in Cambridge itself; the Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Daubenton’s, the Brown long eared and the Noctule.
Detectors can give the best results of seeing bats and for the more enthusiastic we will be holding bat walks using detectors and looking out for certain species. Our walks will be taking place from July to September and there will be two bat punts on the River Cam too.
Bats need to eat a lot of insects and only where the local environment is healthy and diverse will they find enough food to survive so to encourage bats into your garden or on your allotment you need to encourage insects by planting trees, shrubs and plants with night scented flowers. Ponds are also a great attraction; so keep your eyes peeled and you could be lucky.
Iain Webb from the Cambridge City Greenways Project said:
“Bats are fabulous creatures. This is a great opportunity to expand knowledge of bats in the city and to actively help them. All people have to do is send in records of any bat they see in the city. Whether they notice them whilst they are in their garden/allotment, going for an evening stroll or actively going out looking for bats, these records are vital for helping bats have a future in Cambridge.’
The bat survey will run until September, to take part click here.
Participants will receive a report of the findings and information on how to make your garden more bat friendly.
The Wildlife Trust will be giving the results of the survey to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Record Centre so they can track the presence of bats in the county and can follow up with further research.
For more information on the project or to book your place on one of our events, listed below, please contact Iain Webb on iain.webb@wildlifebcnp.org or telephone 01954 713531.
Bat walks- led by local bat experts::
Saturday 28 August- Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits, meet at 8pm at the entrance to East Pit on Lime Kiln Road
Friday 10 September- Stourbridge Common, meet at 7.30pm at the Riverside entrance to Stourbridge Common
Why not join us for European Bat Night in August? Visit our events page for more information.