The Bat section of La Société Guernesiaise has been shortlisted for the Peter Walpole’s People’s Choice award by the Insurance Corporation of the Channel Islands. This is going live on Monday 5th June and is running until the 11th June and we would love as many people as possible to vote for our project. Please follow this link to see all the entries – https://insurancecorporation.com/community/guernsey-vote-the-peter-walpole-peoples-choice-award
The Bat section of La Société Guernesiaise, with support from ACLMS is undertaking an ambitious project to determine the locations of winter roosts for bats. The project has just completed its second year, and we are now looking forward to the winter of 2023. In order to monitor roosts, we place a static detector either in or outside the tunnels (mainly abandoned German tunnels, but also some natural features). We currently have 3 long-term detectors, and then access to a further 4 through ACLMS. If we had more of these detectors, and more of the longer lasting rechargable lithium batteries, we could survey more areas, and for longer.
We know that Guernsey is home to a large number of bats, which are listed by the European Commission as “priority species”. There is currently little or no protection for bat roosts within the islands. We hope to collect sufficient data to demonstrate the size and importance of bat roosts, and hopefully move from that to greater protection of these important habitats.
We particularly want sufficient resources to survey the old mining tunnel systems in Sark, as it is thought to be an important roost for endangered bats. We are therefore hoping for funding to cover purchase of at least one static detector (SM Mini Bat £616) plus lithium lid (£136) batteries and charger (£90 + £26). With these long term detectors, they can be left for up to 2 months, making deployment in harder to reach areas more feasible.
