Roost Monitoring

A core objective of BaTML was to locate, protect and monitor any bat roosts found within the survey area. The directional information obtained from the Habitat Use Profiling Model helped us to establish the likely locations of bat roosts. We were able to begin to develop a picture of where we thought the major roost sites are. As importantly we were also able to eliminate long stretches of canal as probably not holding a significant roost. It should be noted, however, that all sections of the canal are used by foraging/commuting bats.

Our work involved various methods and areas of research which, when brought together, helped us build a much stronger picture as to how the bats in this area are interacting with their habitat.

We were involved with the following areas of study, sometimes in conjunction with other researchers who had similar areas of interest:-

• Harp Trapping bats as they leave their roost, thus allowing bats to be properly identified along with gathering additional data.
• Ringing of bats in order to establish longer-term information about individuals, including foraging behaviour and roost usage.
• Radio Tracking Daubenton's bats in order to find new roosting locations.

We discovered a number of previously unknown roosts that have now been protected. As a result of this activity we have also been able to show that there are at least 5 species of bat present in the area, all of which have been found roosting.