Select a region
Experts say they are still a bit in the dark about some of our nocturnal species living in Jersey and are meeting up today to go on a bat hunt.
It's Jersey Bat Day and members of the Jersey Bat Group and the Environment department will be at the Société Jersiaise first for a seminar focusing on bats living in our local woodland and the sounds that they make.
13 different species of bats are known to live in the Island but they can be hard to track down and after a few experts have talked at the seminar they will be heading off to Val de la Mare to find out how they can keep tabs on them through the woodland bat box project.
The Jersey Bat Group is putting dozens of bat boxes in woodlands like Val de la Mare’s in the hope that lots of bats will use them to roost over the coming months.
Natural Environment Officer David Tipping said: “There’s a lot we don’t know about bats. They are so hard to study. They fly when its dark, they don’t stay still and the noises they make are inaudible to us.”
Bats can live for up to 40 years and Mr Tipping says it’s important to monitor how Jersey’s bats are doing to get a good idea of the state of the local environment.
He said: “Bats are an ideal indicator of the health of Jersey’s biodiversity as they are extremely long lived for their tiny size and slow to reproduce. This makes them vulnerable to a wide range of environmental impacts including that of building development, which can affect the places they roost. They are also exposed to environmental pollutants both directly and through the food they eat, most local species feed mainly on airborne insects."
The seminar starts at 9.30 am at the Société Jersiaise in Pier Road.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.