Hi all,
The Northern Ireland Bat Group has a request for two or more volunteers to complete the car based (driving) bat surveys in Northern Ireland.
The areas where volunteers are required
These surveys are for J06 (east of Lough Neagh) and H13 (Fermanagh). The surveys are completed by driving along a predetermined route (the transect) with parts of the route where you drive slower (the listening points), all while having a bat detector sticking out your window collecting bat data.
For the survey to be valid, there has to be two surveys, one that takes place in the second half of July and the other in the first three weeks of August. As part of the preparation for the surveys, Bat Conservation Ireland provide the equipment and the training you will need (but not map reading or driving).
The importance of these surveys
For bat science on the island of Ireland, the continuation of these surveys is essential because they have been providing data for nearly 20 years. The data collected informs policy in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland by identifying trends in common species and showing ranges of rarer species.
J33, I knew you so well
I completed this survey (J33) for a couple of years with my husband and all you really need to know how to do is stand you co-pilot for the duration of the survey, however ability to read a map is also an advantage.
Even if you have a passing interest in wildlife, this survey make you part of twilight. On J33, we had to try to shoo in a baby badger off the road because us driving very slowly interested it so much. We also had a fox family checking us out as we checked our directions (this survey makes you better at map reading if you need practice!!).
If you want to volunteer
If you are interested please email [email protected] to become part of an internationally important monitoring project.
