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