Tayside Bat Group
2016 TBG Activities
January 2016 - Hibernacula Checking, Angus
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TBG had a great winter day out checking possible hibernacula across Angus in January. We started in Montrose and worked our way west, checking bridges, a souterrain and a small cave.
No bats were found but negative results are also important, and it increased our awareness of targeting the right kind of structures - some bridges had been repointed and had no access for bats and some just weren't accessible in the winter, with the higher water flow making it either too dangerous or just impossible to get close enough.
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We decided that we would try to keep and eye out over the year for structures that would be suitable for hibernacula surveys with the possibility of doing more than one day over the winter of 2016-17
Hibernacula surveys are only carried out in January and February which are usually the coldest months. It is vital to avoid disturbing the bats, as they use lots of energy to wake up from torpor so this may mean they don't have enough resources to keep them going until the end of winter and they will starve to death... :(
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Only licensed people are allowed to enter roosts and we always make sure we follow the correct procedures on our surveys. They are great fun though, exploring the countryside and its a welcome break from being cooped up indoors like most of us are during the winter.
Intrepid TBG checking out a cave at the Iron Age hillfort on Barry Hill
Lynsey and Jean showing the children and parents the bats (© Arthur Sangster)
Sept 2016 Bat box checks at Dunning Golf Course
TBG put up some bat boxes at the golf course in 2015 and in September 2016 we checked them to see if the bats were using them.
22 out of the 26 boxes showed signs of occupation and 8 of the boxes had bats in them when we checked them.
This is excellent as it shows the bat boxes are really beneficial to the local bat population :)
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A common pipistrelle (© Jean Oudney)
Sept 2016 - Dundee Flower and Food Festival
Several of us were there at various times to meet the public and talk about our favourite subject!
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Our information boards have various snippets of information on them about bats and the various species we have in Tayside, care information and what to do if you find a bat.
We also have two fantastic pop up posters - one on Tayside Bat Group and the other on Bats of Scotland. We usually have a supply of BCT leaflets on bats in houses, gardening for bats etc but ran out really quickly this weekend.
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David Martin, our resident inventor, brought along his "see like a bat goggles" and tried them out on various unsuspecting members of the public who enjoyed the extra sensory experience.
Daniele from Perthshire Wildlife trying out the goggles (© Jean Oudney)
