Wanted!  Volunteers to survey bat activity.

A scheme for estimating the activity of bat species in the Community Orchard at Park Farm is falling into place. The idea is that a group of two or three ‘surveyors’ walk a defined ‘figure of eight’ circuit in the Orchard at dusk every Wednesday from April to October.  The frequency and location of any bat ‘noise’ (picked up on a special hand-held detector box) is marked on a record-sheet.  The weather conditions at the time are also recorded.  The circuit is then repeated, aiming to detect any movement in the bats’ ‘hunting area’.   The double circuit, with time out to make the recordings, and allowance made for poor light, should take no more than an hour. The aim is to provide valuable information on species, direction of movement, frequency of appearance, and the effect of cherry blossom (attracting insects on which bats feed) on bat activity. We will be in close touch with the Kent Bat Group (who presented to the Lynsted with Kingsdown Society last year), who are keen supporters of our project, and are always eager to learn more about these attractive, but poorly understood, flying mammals.

If you would like to join the list of volunteers willing to spend an occasional hour helping this project, or would like more information, please get in touch with Bob Baxter on 521 515 or John Disney on 521 580.

Bob Baxter,
Park Farm Cherry Orchard Project Group.