On Saturday night we were joined by a number of North Bucks Bat Group volunteers, with the aim of conducting emergence counts at all known roots, to give us a clearer idea of the numbers and distribution of the bats.
Having arrived early to make sure we had time to organise teams and take people to their roosts - some of which are harder to find than others - we then settled in to wait for the bats (time that I spent constructing a dry place to sit from surrounding, natural materials - a futile exercise as it was in the wrong place to see bats emerging).
The bats started to appear a little more than half an hour after sun set, with a total of just less than sixty being recorded across several roosts. A secondary success was the identification of the exit hole for one of the roosts, something that had puzzled us on previous visits. All in, the night was a success, and it was great to see so many people coming out to help. That said, the count didn't beat our previous highest emergence count, which was all bats from a single tree, so clearly there is a way to go yet, and more roosts to find.
Thanks to all who took part!
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