I have volunteered for the Biodiversity Team at Oxfordshire County Council. They undertake numerous surveys and investigations on behalf of the County Council.  On this day I was to assist with a bat emergence survey.

Oxfordshire County Council

South Moreton bat emergence survey

02 September 2024

A brick wall of a bridge over Mill Brook in South Moreton, Oxfordshire, had been damaged. This was due to be repaired but had been assessed has having potential for roosting bats. This was due to the gap on the inside of the wall.

This was the 2nd bat emergence survey to be done at this site.

Background

Broken bridge wall, over Mill Brook. The site for the bat emergence survey.

We positioned ourselves at the side of the road looking at the broken wall/stream. An infrared camera was set up, and a bat detector was used (writing this record well after the fact, I believe it was a professional quality bat detector like the Elekon Batlogger M2 Bat Detector).

I used my EchoMeter Touch 2 bat detector as well to try it out and was pleased to record some bats and see some flying! From the point of view of the survey, no bats were observed emerging from the broken wall. I was also able to use the professional grade bat detector and compare how they worked.

Activity

Screenshot of EchoMeter Touch recording of a Common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus (using auto-id, note peak frequency matches typical Common pipistrelle call).

Reflection

Although it may have been nice to see bats emerging from the wall - this would have caused problems in fixing the wall, which was needed for safety purposes. As I got to see bats flying overhead, use my personal bat detector, and use a professional grade bat detector, I can count the session as a success! I enjoyed this experience and hope to be able to do more surveys of this kind.