On Saturday we carried out our annual winter checks at Parc Cwm Darran. The checks involved monitoring of both a tunnel and listed building (The Gunpowder Store).
There were no hibernating bats present in the tunnel but members had a chance to look around and practice their endoscope skills.
The Gunpowder Store has previously been a roost for a single/small number of Brown Long-eared bats. A cool tower was built by VBG with the intention of enhancing the site for bats whilst respecting the Schedule 1 building, therefore the structure had to be separated from the structure of the building and not be of 'permanent' nature to conform with CADWR's requirements. The cool tower was built using the design in the Lesser Horseshoe Bat Conservation Handbook by the Vincent Wildlife Trust.
Early last summer we found droppings in areas of the cool tower that were visible, indicating summer use but failed to see any actual bats due to the design of the cool tower making it difficult to see inside. However, thanks to Steve's long arms, a small gap in the bricks and the zoom function on one of our endoscopes we were able to capture this footage of three hibernating Brown long- eared bats and what appeared to be a single Common pipistrelle.
There were no hibernating bats present in the tunnel but members had a chance to look around and practice their endoscope skills.
The Gunpowder Store has previously been a roost for a single/small number of Brown Long-eared bats. A cool tower was built by VBG with the intention of enhancing the site for bats whilst respecting the Schedule 1 building, therefore the structure had to be separated from the structure of the building and not be of 'permanent' nature to conform with CADWR's requirements. The cool tower was built using the design in the Lesser Horseshoe Bat Conservation Handbook by the Vincent Wildlife Trust.
Early last summer we found droppings in areas of the cool tower that were visible, indicating summer use but failed to see any actual bats due to the design of the cool tower making it difficult to see inside. However, thanks to Steve's long arms, a small gap in the bricks and the zoom function on one of our endoscopes we were able to capture this footage of three hibernating Brown long- eared bats and what appeared to be a single Common pipistrelle.
Saturday confirmed that the cool tower is now being used by bats all year round and its success was very rewarding for the members that put the effort into the building and monitoring of the site. The pint in the pub that followed was well deserved.
As always thank you to everyone that turned up and thanks to our Chair for leading!
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