BCT Quarterly Report

July – September 2012

The Bat Conservation Trust has a clear vision – A world where bats and people thrive together in harmony. Our mission is to secure the future of bats in a changing world. This report summarises progress for the quarter against BCT’s four key objectives:

Objective / Projects/Areas of activity / Page
DISCOVER
1.  To establish the capacity of the landscape to support viable populations of bats
Surveys, monitoring and research / NBMP / 1
Roofing membranes / 8
ACT
2. To secure and enhance bat populations to the full capacity of the landscape
Biodiversity / Biodiversity / 12
Investigations / 19
Bats and the Built Environment / 20
Woodland Officer / 23
International / 28
Bat Group Partnerships and BCT's work
across the UK / Bat Group Partnerships / 28
BCT in Wales / 32
BCT in Scotland / 34
Education & Engagement / Training / 37
Helpline and Casework / 40
INSPIRE
3. To win the level of support required to achieve and maintain these bat populations
Marketing / Communications and Marketing / 49
Fundraising / 49
Hon. Education Officer / 37
CAPACITY
4. BCT Management, Strategy and Administration
Support Services / Finance, HR & Office Services / 56
Strategy / Strategy & Critical Strategic Areas / 57
Appendices / Organisational Structure / 58
Staff list / 59
Glossary / 60

Surveys, monitoring and research

National Bat Monitoring Programme

Targets

The table below shows progress against the targets set out in the BCT strategy for NBMP. Progress to date is shown for Q1 and Q2 of this year.

Activities / 2012/13 / Q1 Progress (Apr-June 12) / Q2 Progress (July-Sept 12) /
NBMP volunteers / 11 species surveyed, 1300 volunteers taking part in surveys, 82% repeat volunteers, 30 workshops. Focus on increasing Welsh site coverage. / 11 species will be surveyed in 2012
We are working with CCW to improve Welsh coverage for NBMP surveys in 2012. / 26 workshops delivered
Data sharing / Annual update of NBMP data to NBN database / Ongoing / Datasets for two surveys were updated in July 2012
Additional data provided for agency requests on Article 17 reporting
NBMP database / Trial online data entry with hibernation survey. Continue data migration. / Phase 1 contract for Colony Count database and data entry with Exegesis ongoing to August 2012.
Phase 2 specification being developed for hibernation survey and data migration. / Phase 1 contract timing delayed, still ongoing through September but good progress being made.
Phase 2 specification development ongoing
Bechstein's bat follow on work / MSc collaboration with Bristol to model distribution and ground truth model with trapping / Masters student Lia Gilmour completing project supported by BBCWF grant from Feb 2012 to Feb 2013 / Fieldwork completed in September
NBMP scientific publications / conferences / Submit verification paper using frequency division for Field and Waterway surveys published. Present NBMP paper at IBRC 2013. / NBMP paper planned for this year.
ZSL intern Catherine Sayer is working on verification project May to August 2012.
KH accepted invitation to present monitoring and indicators paper at Bats as Bioindicators International Symposium in December 2012. / Planning of NBMP paper ongoing.
Verification internship completed September 2012.
KB gave talk at EBBC conference in August 2012 as part of a symposium on citizen science
KH gave talk at Bat Conference in September 2012 on pan European indicator work
UK and England bat biodiversity indicator / Update annual official statistics / Completed and indicator published May 2012 / Work completed on country and habitat indicator development for Defra in September 2012
KH attended UK BISG workshop on disaggregating indicators for countries and habitats. Work on examining potential of UK bat indicator to be disaggregated ongoing.
Defra volunteer indicator / Inputting BCT volunteer statistics from all relevant staff / Completed and indicator published May 2012

Survey Organisation

The table below shows the number of volunteers who have been sent packs for each survey in 2012 as of 13th September (or are due to be sent packs for the Nathusius’ pipistrelle Survey), compared with last year’s figures. The number of volunteers signed up to the Nathusius’ pipistrelle Survey is expected to rise slightly in the coming weeks as this survey takes place in September and we are still getting some late sign-ups. The Sunset Sunrise Survey is not listed in the table as all volunteers were sent a link to the form and instructions on the BCT website and we will know how many people took part once all the forms have come in.

Survey / No. of volunteers sent survey packs/taking part
2012 / 2011
Pipistrelle colony count / 712 / 730
Brown long-eared colony count / 144 / 149
Serotine colony count / 67 / 80
Natterer’s colony count / 67 / 76
Lesser horseshoe colony count / 94 / 87
Greater horseshoe colony count / 22 / 20
Field Survey / 643 / 624
Waterway Survey / 731 / 722
Woodland Survey / 8 / 11
Nathusius’ pipistrelle survey* / 105 / 151

Species verification at roosts

This summer, 54 ‘pipistrelle unsure’ roosts were targeted for species verification and roost owners were contacted to try to establish further information on species present in these roosts. Eight roost owners requested to borrow a broadband detector and recorder in order make recordings for analysis. To date, seven of these roost owners have returned recordings, six of whom had successfully made recordings that were suitable for analysis. This year volunteers were encouraged to record as many calls as possible and this enabled us to determine the predominant species at the roost where multiple species were recorded.

Greater horseshoe bat Colony Counts

This survey is funded in England by Natural England. The survey method has been standardised since 2005, including the survey period, and there are now 31 greater horseshoe Colony Count sites in the NBMP network for the UK, 26 of which are in England.

In 2012, survey packs have been sent out for 29 sites. Four new volunteers had also signed up to the survey this year so were sent blank forms to enable them to survey new sites. Forms have been received so far from 19 sites (17 repeat sites and two new ones). Reminders will shortly be sent to surveyors who have yet to return their data.

Woodland Survey

This survey is funded by Natural England with the aim of monitoring barbastelle activity at sites designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) for this species. The main aim of the barbastelle monitoring in 2012 is to re-survey all the transects completed in 2011, both new and existing, in as many of the three survey periods as possible with the volunteer resources we have available.

The survey periods are as follows:

·  Period 1 - 25th July to 8th August

·  Period 2 - 9th to 23rd August

·  Period 3 - 24th August to 7th September

The table below summarises the transects surveyed at SAC sites in 2012 in each of the three survey periods (Y/N indicates whether a survey was conducted in that period). Recordings from surveys are currently being collated and will be analysed over the coming months to determine presence of barbastelle. Surveys were completed at all sites apart from two. At Briddlesford Copses a recce was carried out which revealed the conditions at the site to be unsuitable for walking transects at night. At the Exmoor part of the Exmoor and Quantocks SAC site, bad weather and lack of time prevented the volunteer involved from carrying out surveys this year. However, an additional transect was surveyed in the Quantocks in period 3, which increased the survey effort within this part of this large SAC si

SAC / County / Woodland name (where applicable) / Transect no. / Period 1 / Period 2 / Period 3
Ebernoe Common / West Sussex / Transect 1 / Y / Y / Y
Transect 2 / Y / Y / Y
The Mens / West Sussex / Transect 1 / Y / Y / N
Transect 2 / Y / Y / N
Mottisfont / Hampshire / Transect 1 / N / Y / N
Spearywell Wood / Transect 2 / N / Y / N
Mason’s Copse and Drove Copse / Transect 3 / N / Y / N
Holm Moor and Deborah Copse / Transect 4 / N / N / Y
Exmoor and Quantock Woodlands / Somerset / Quantocks: Hodder’s Come and Somerton Combe / Transect 1 / Y / Y / Y
Quantocks: Holford Combe / Transect 2 / Y / Y / Y
Exmoor: Horner Wood 1 / Transect 3 / N / N / N
Exmoor: Horner Wood 2 / Transect 4 / N / N / N
Quantocks: new transect / Transect 5 / N / N / Y
Eversden and Wimpole Woods / Cambridgeshire / Eversden / Transect 1 / Y / Y / Y
Wimpole / Transect 2 / Y / Y / Y
Briddlesford Copses / Isle of Wight / Briddlesford Copse / Transect 1 / N / N / N
Briddlesford Bridleway / Transect 2 / N / N / N
North Pembrokeshire Woodlands / Pembrokeshire / Pengelli Forest / Transect 1 / N / Y / Y
Ffynnon-ddu / Transect 2 / N / Y / Y

Volunteer recruitment and support

217 new volunteers have been recruited between 13th June and 13th September 2012. This brings the total number of active NBMP volunteers to 2611.

A breakdown of recruitment sources is shown below. The majority of new volunteers cited having found out about the NBMP either on the internet generally, or through the BCT website more specifically. The Sunset/Sunrise Survey was also a key source of new volunteers, followed by bat detector workshops and local bat groups. In addition, existing volunteers had considerable success attracting new recruits, as did our Scottish Bat Officer.

Recruitment source / No. of new volunteers
Internet / 37
Sunset/Sunrise Survey / 30
Bat detector workshop / 21
Local Bat Group / 19
BCT website / 16
Other volunteer/WOM / 16
Unknown / 13
Scottish Bat Officer / 10
BCT Helpline / 7
Public event / 7
Nathusius’ pipistrelle Survey / 6
Employment/volunteering / 5
Bat walk / 5
Data in / 4
E-bulletin / 3
Twitter / 3
Facebook/Facebook BCT / 2
Misc. enquiry / 2
Research project/university / 2
Welsh Bat Officer / 1
Wildlife Trusts / 1
Bat Group Coordinator / 1
BCT Leaflet (misc.) / 1
Count Bat / 1
Email / 1
Local radio / 1
NBMP sign-up form / 1
New roost owner / 1

State of the UK’s bats 2012

The sixth State of the UK’s bats was completed in August 2012 and was available at the National Bat Conference at the University of York in September. This leaflet summarises the latest findings from the NBMP and related projects. This year the focus was on volunteer participation in the programme and included a summary of the Bechstein’s Bat Survey. The leaflet will be sent to government agency stakeholders in the NBMP and also to all our recent NBMP volunteers, as well as being available electronically on the BCT website.

Grey long-eared bat surveillance

This summer we have been working on a project to improve our knowledge of the distribution of grey long-eared bat across its UK range. We have targeted long-eared roosts in priority areas of search in three counties (Devon, Sussex and Dorset) identified from predicted distribution mapping completed by Orly Razgour at the University of Bristol. We have used a number of methods to identify and request samples of droppings from roosts in these areas including mailing roost owners and contacting bat groups and bat workers. Droppings samples provided are then sent for DNA analysis for identification to species level. Some additional sampling has been completed in Pembrokeshire following discovery of a positive identification from droppings analysis in this area. A preliminary report was completed in August and to date grey long-eared bats have been identified to be present at one new roost site in Devon. Further analysis is ongoing and the report will be finalised at the end of September.

NBMP Database

The contract with Exegesis for development of the new database and online recording pages for the Colony Counts is ongoing. Three Rapid Application Development meetings were held in June and July. The recording website and new database will be running and ready for testing before the end of September. We plan to run a small pilot asking a selected group of NBMP volunteers to trial the web pages during October. In September the NBP team will also be testing all aspects of the new system including data entry, volunteer management and administration tasks. The full system will then be rolled out to all volunteers to sign up and use if they wish to do so in 2013. The old and new databases will be synchronised before 2012 data are sent for analysis in the autumn.

KB is working with JNCC to develop the specification for the next phase of work which we would like to continue with into the autumn of 2012 following completion of the current contract. This will focus on development of database sections and online recording pages for the Hibernation Survey.

NBMP training

The table below shows NBMP workshops delivered between July and September 2012. A total of 6 workshops were delivered in this reporting period.

Date / Location / Workshop delivered / Trainer/speaker
1st July / Herefordshire / Using Your Ears / Jules Agate
7th July / Aberdeenshire / Field Survey / Anne Youngman
14th July / Suffolk / Waterway Survey / Bill Landells
1st September / Stockport / Using Your Ears / Steve Parker
15th September / York / Intro to Sound Analysis / Kate Barlow/Philip Briggs
16th September / York / Advanced Sound Analysis / Dean Waters/Kate Barlow

We we have now delivered a total of 26 workshops in 2012 which is just short of our target of 30. Additional workshops planned for the South East and Scotland conferences in November are likely to bring us very close to our target.