Big group for walk on St Martin's

On a lovely quiet, mild and moonlit evening a big group of locals and visitors turned up yesterday for a bat walk on St Martin's.

Walking up to the Reading Room, where the walk started, I was surprised to see as many as 40 people there! Fortunately we had a few detectors to share between the group so that everyone could hear bats as they passed.

A tense 15 minutes ensued where no bats were seen or heard! Fortunately they did come out after this and we had quite a few passes between the Church and Lower Town. Most people seemed very pleased to encounter the bats and hear their echolocation on the detectors. Questions were flowing thick and fast and such events are clearly important to enhance peoples' understanding of bats and their habitat.

A total of £54 was collected in donations, which all helps the group.

Bat walk on St Martin's

There will be a bat walk on St Martin's on Tuesday 24th August starting at 8.45pm by the Reading Room. Everyone is welcome.

We will provide bat detectors, but please bring a torch. The walk is free but donations to the Bat Group are appreciated.

We should finish by 10.00pm at Lower Town.

Report from St Martin's

Over the last three weeks I've been doing bat walks on my own on St Martin's to assess the current population of local bats. As I live at Middle Town my route is generally between Reading Room and Lower Town beach, taking in various paths, fields and the road.

In the past couple of years I have expected to find between 8 and 12 individual Pipistrelles between Middle Town and Lower Town. So far this summer I haven't detected more than 4 or 5 individuals over the same route. There have been varying weather conditions so it can't be put down to cold, windy or damp conditions on the survey night.

Shortly I'll be doing some walks around Higher Town to assess the state of the population on that half of the island. I'm also still trying to find where the bats roost here - I have some ideas but still no proof of their whereabouts!

Jonathan Smith

Programme of Bat Walks for 2010

                                    

 

 

                                  Programme of Bat Walks 2010

 

 

St Mary's       All walks start at Holgate's Green: times to be notified 1 week before the walk

 

Thursday 6 May          

 

Tuesday 29 June          

 

Wednesday 28 July     

 

Saturday 14 August:     Meeting of Bat Group with a representative from BCT at 7pm followed by a bat walk.

 

 Thursday 9 September

 

 

Off-islands:     Walks will be arranged on Bryher, Tresco and St Martin's

                        Dates and times to be notified later.

 

 

National Bat Monitoring Programme

 

Surveys to be done at the beginning and end of June and beginning and end of July.

Anne and Mike will be doing surveys for NBMP  between 1-6 June and 23-28 June and on two dates in July, still to be decided. If any member would like to accompany them, please get in touch.

Notes of the Bat Group Meeting 1/4/2010

ISLES OF SCILLY BAT GROUP

Affiliated to: Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust and Bat Conservation Trust

Notes of Meeting on Thursday 1 April 2010 in the Adult Learning Centre Carn Thomas, St Mary's at 13.30

Chairman's Introduction

Marian welcomed members to the meeting.

Present were: Marian Bennett, Richard Farr, Mike & Anne Gurr, Julie Love, Steve Marshall, Jonathan Smith, Julie Watts.

Apologies had been received from Ralph Banfield, Vickie Heaney, Ann & John Horton, David Mawer, Rosemary Parslow, Anthea Roberts, Carol Williams.

'Walk Scilly' Bat Walk 31/3. This had been held the previous evening and had been disappointing. Seven visitors and four Bat Group members as 'leaders' took part (three visitors were from Vienna). After a brief introductory talk about the Bat Group and bats in general and the use of the detectors, the group walked to Rosehill along the main road and stayed about 20 minutes. No bats were seen or detected. The night was cool but dry with a moderate wind. It was disappointing also not to find bats in the expected places near the incinerator and Doilie Wood. One was detected very faintly near the hospital turn. The walk ended in Hugh Town at about 9.30pm and visitors expressed their appreciation despite the obvious disappointment.

National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP) 2009. Surveys (colony count and field surveys) will continue this year on St Mary's, Bryher and St Martin's, although the latter may be simply a field survey as no roost site has been definitely located for a colony count. Mike & Anne, who have the most experience of NBMP, will try to get across to Bryher and St Martin's to help out with the first surveys. Alasdair Moore, on Tresco, has agreed to do a colony count and field survey on Tresco but will need instruction. He will not be available until mid-May, which is leaving it a bit late for the June survey. Julie Love said that it would be worth contacting John Fisher, who is now living and working on Tresco (Cottages Department) having previously been a volunteer for Alderney WT. He would be keen to be involved. Mike & Anne agreed to contact him. Julie also mentioned that NE will be funding (through the Local Area Group (LAG) and Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) schemes) a 'bat-cam' on Tresco linked to the Visitor Centre. She will keep us informed of developments in this regard.

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'Green Team' News

Anne and Mike gave a talk about bat biology and about the Bat Group to the 'Green Team' at the Secondary School on 2^nd February. The 'Green Team' has funding to pursue several ecological projects mainly based on the theme of energy saving. The children were very interested and a good discussion took place. Anne & Mike will take them on a bat walk when the weather improves and also invite some of them to see the roost at Maypole Farm. We will then discuss how they can become involved in projects with the Bat Group. For example, we could raise funds to supply bat detectors so that they can cover the Islands looking for bat 'hot-spots' and potential roosts. Off-island children can look out for bats flying between islands to build up a picture of bat migration.

Research

Bat activity had been low in the winter due to the unusually cold weather, although some bats have been seen from time to time. At Maypole Farm, our first count in 2009 had been 47 on the 4^th April, so it seemed necessary to start observations for 2010 in March. However, little activity has been recorded there this month. There are no droppings below the usual roost site. On the 27th, seven bats were detected in the vicinity of the roost. Of these, five were probably 'passing through' and two may possibly have emerged but this was not certain. The Group's Anabat has now been set up to detect early arrivals and, later, to give information of when bats leave and, more importantly, arrive back at the roost before dawn.

Suggestions for a research programme, focusing mainly on migration (between islands and between Scilly and the mainland), have been sent to Carol and Steve for comment. We hope to draw up a scheme for studying bat movements by radio-tracking and/or DNA analyses. Both will require assistance from people with licences to handle bats and carry out the manipulations required. One possibility is to get a student, supervised by an expert, to assist with these studies. This will require funding, which in turn will require a very soundly-based application and so is looking considerably into the future. NE and SDF sources will be explored. In discussion, it was suggested that, for this year, funds should be sought for more automatic recording equipment to be established on all inhabited islands with the emphasis on seeking evidence for inter-island migration. As more background information is accumulated, we may be in a better position to put in an application for a student project.

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Web-site and blog

The web-site is: www.scillybatgroup.org.uk

New process for BCT affiliation

BCT propose to change the method of affiliation of Groups to the Trust after a period of consultation. There is now a single mode of affiliation for which the fee is £50 pa; we have been give a reduced rate of £25. The new proposal is for three modes: (1) No formal link at all; (2) Partnership working, involving substantial obligations for both groups and for BCT; Networking, involving looser links with fewer obligations on both sides. BCT intended to send one of their staff to our meeting to explain the options but this did not materialize. Mike has invited Laura Dunne, BCT staff member responsible for coordination with Bat Groups to visit in mid-August and a meeting will be arranged at that time. Notification of the exact date will be made to members as soon as possible.

Programme for 2010.

Bat walks. In view of the success we had last year,It was agreed that we would try to again aim for at least one bat walk a month on St Mary's and several others on the off-islands. Mike will liaise with Marian and Jonathan, who are keen to have walks on Bryher and St Martin's. Assuming that a reliable contact can be found on Tresco, there was general enthusiasm to hold walk(s) on Tresco too. Dates will be notified to members as soon as possible and there will be adequate publicity through posters, web-sites, TIC and Radio Scilly before each walk. There was some discussion of the relative merits of charging a fee or asking for donations. On balance it was agreed that we will not charge a fee but ask for donations and review the matter again next year.

Other meetings. These will be arranged as opportunities arise. Steve Marshall has offered to come over and talk about bat warden training. The Secretary will circulate members asking if anyone has an interest in being trained as a bat warden as there is a need for additional wardens, especially on off-islands. A special meeting to discuss BCT affiliation will be convened in August but we

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hope to combine this with other activities to provide more interest. Mike, Anne and Ralph are happy to take individual members on bat walks to provide further experience in use of detectors. If members have ideas for additional meetings, they should contact the Secretary.

Research. This has been mainly covered in earlier sections. General information about bats on Scilly will be accumulated through encouraging as many people (members and visitors) to note any bat sightings (using the record forms, which will be made widely available). Routine roost observations by Bat Group

members (and now, hopefully, by 'Green Team' members) on all inhabited islands, coupled with more formal information from NBMP surveys will add to this knowledge. Finally more formal plans for medium and longer term research on bat migration will be developed and appropriate funding sought. The website will be used to update members on developments and the blog will be publicized as a vehicle for registering bat observations by members and visitors alike.

Any other business

Subscriptions/receipts. At the time of this meeting 22 members had paid their 2010 subscription. Ten people who were paid-up members last year have not renewed. They have been sent stamped-addressed envelopes for return to me. When you receive this newsletter, please send in your subscription if you intend to renew, otherwise the Secretary will delete your name as he does not wish to circulate people who are no longer interested!

Bat Crime. The Secretary quoted from a letter that he (and all Bat Group secretaries) had received from Julia Hanmer at BCT expressing their concerns about bat crime. BCT have set up a Crime Investigations Project and appointed a Crime Investigations Officer. This requires funding and Groups are asked to contribute. The Secretary had replied to Julia to indicate that our funds would not stretch to this sort of gesture but, despite the fact that bat crime was not an issue here, we would think about how we might help. After a general discussion of this issue, two suggestions were made by Julie Love and agreed by all. Firstly, we will give a talk to our local police on 'bats and the law' and describe what the Bat Group is doing in Scilly. Secondly, we would develop a workshop for local contractors and developers to indicate how problems of bat disturbance could be mitigated in the course of building and development work. It was agreed that Carol should be asked to advise on this topic.

The meeting closed at 15.00.

Bat activity on St Martin's

Since the weather has settled down, bat activity has definitely been on the up. Over the past few days I've seen quite a few bats flying around Middle Town and Lower Town in late evening. Whilst I didn't have the detector at the time, I'm fairly certain they were all Pipistrelles.

It was also very pleasing to see a couple of bats working the hedgerows down my fields at Lawrences (between school and the beach), somewhere that doesn't normally seem to attract many bats.

Time to do a few circuits soon and get an idea of numbers of individuals on the island at the moment.

Subscriptions for 2010

This is to remind members that the subscription for this year will remain at £5 per member, which I'm sure you'll agree is good value. It is mainly to cover costs of communicating with members, producing our reports, hire of meeting rooms and purchasing small items of equipment. For larger projects we will raise grants, in which we have been quite successful so far. THE FINAL DATE FOR PAYMENT IS 1 APRIL 2010. AFTER THAT I SHALL ASSUME THAT YOU NO LONGER WISH TO REMAIN A MEMBER AND WILL REMOVE YOUR NAME FROM THE LIST.

 

Mike Gurr, Secretary

Anne Gurr, Treasurer

11 February 2010

First Meeting of 2010

Our first Group meeting for 2010 will be on Thursday 1st April. The venue and time will be announced later. We will review the work of the Group and plan our programme for the year. We hope to have Steve Marshall, one of our members in Cornwall, over to talk about the use of automatic bat recording equipment. We are also hoping that Carol Williams will be with us again. Finally, the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) is changing its arrangements for the affiliation of Bat Groups and we may have someone over from BCT to explain the new system and discuss alternative options for affiliation. Please put the date in your diaries and we will update youn about the arrangements in a few weeks' time.

Green Team News

On Tuesday 2nd February, Anne and Mike Gurr made a presentation at the Five Islands Secondary School to the School's "Green Team". We gave some background to bat biology, the history of bats in Scilly and the work of the Bat Group. Finally, we discussed briefly ways in which the Green Team could be involved in helping with the Group's research, for example by observing and recording bats on all the inhabited islands. Later we will develop this into a well organized programme of work. During the coming season, we will take them on bat walks and show them the roost site that we are studying at Maypole. Watch this space!

 

Anne & Mike, 11 February 2010

A new year for Scilly Bat Group

The minutes, accounts and records from 2009 are now available on our website here.

We'll be announcing a programme of events in the spring here on the blog - keep checking for further information.