Lee Valley Bats - ECHO

AUTUMN 2009 Issue 11 Bat Garden Update Haringey Council; Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC); and Pond Fundraising the London Wildlife Trust FACTS & NEWS Success (Haringey); the Friends of the

Above photo: Paddock; BTCV and the local ‘Autumn scene - woodland habitat’ We’re so happy to report that community. Maintenance will be by Alex Cohen the Bat Garden we built in early carried out once a year. Spring this year has come along Bat Garden update and Pond fundraising success in leaps and bounds. Of course, The practical part of the project there aren’t a huge number of could be completed within just a

Serotines at the Paddock flowering plants there yet, but few days (depending on we’re more than satisfied at the numbers of volunteers). Many thanks to our Patron: progress so far. Of course, as Simon King time goes on we’ll see more - An educational resource manually introduced, seed A poor Brown Long- dispersed and wind-borne The pond will be an excellent eared bat species. educational resource for local school children. It fits perfectly Bat box checking at To refresh your memory, the with the national curriculum to London Borough of Haringey Highgate Wood allow children to learn about the funded the garden and was built with Cindy Blaney environment - in this case, the entirely by BCTV and LVB bats at Tottenham Hale. We will

International story: volunteers. be able to carry out bat walks The bat that came out for local schools, incorporating of the dark And now ..... a pond the pond and demonstrating how bats forage and drink. LEDs - update and an option We have one corner of the Bat by Haringey’s Steven Laine Garden reserved for a wildlife Bat Garden in August Photo: Jeanette Sitton (LVB) pond. The Paddock itself, is Trip to Cheddar Gorge surrounded by water, (the river Lea), but there’s no standing 2010 bat walk dates coming water in the area. in our Winter issue of ECHO

.

A few months ago we applied to If you would like to make a the Bat Consevation Trust for donation, please use the Paypal help and we are delighted to say Link on our website or send your cheque to: Jeanette Sitton, 217 they have awarded us £400 to Reedham Close, London, N17 9PZ build the pond. Why a pond? – payable to Lee Valley Bats – Like all animals, bats have to thank you drink. Midges and other flying

insects attracted to water, are

Sunday Winter Workshops

bat food. **A VARIETY OF WILDLIFE TOPICS** CHECK THE BACK PAGE, WEBSITE OR We will build and maintain the PHONE US FOR DETAILS. Remember to book early. pond in partnership with: (Donations are welcome) Haringey x

Chair: Grahame Pearce - Secretary, newsletter & website: Jeanette Sitton - http://www.leevalleybats.org.uk - [email protected] - 07888 875588

Health

It is widely accepted that water promotes mental and physical wellbeing and is an asset to any green space, especially in an urban environment. The pond will provide the Paddock with a focal point – a place where visitors can relax or walk around during the daytime and ‘evening’, (the latter on scheduled bat walks) and perhaps, if we’re lucky, see drinking and foraging bats at the pond.

Biodiversity

Diagram (c) ARC Ponds are a much needed habitat. Many are being lost due to agricultural practices, hence the need to increase standing water in edges, for animals to shelter in. Pond management will coincide London. A pond will increase Measurements: 3 meters long; 2 with a drop in flying insects and biodiversity in the area and will meters wide; 1 meter deep. bat hibernation. To measure the attract different flying insects, success of the conservation including midges and moths. Planting up taking place, bats will be monitored to assess the success Goals It will be planted up with a variety of the new habitat. of native wetland plants, including: marginal; floating and We welcome you to join in, in Goal 1: to increase visiting and commuting bat numbers; submerged plants. These, along any aspect, e.g. maintenance, with a variety of oxygenating planting, monitoring bat Goal 2: to encourage bat roosting plants, will maintain a healthy numbers. (resident bats); balance.

Email Jeanette for more details, Goal 3: to provide a reliable Habitat at: drinking / feeding location [email protected] for bats in the area; One of the most important or phone: 07888 875588 aspects of this project is to Goal 4: to be an educational site maintain the pond as a good

for school parties and all ecological habitat that a wide visitors number of species can enjoy. Volunteering

Even though it doesn’t need to be

Installation managed extensively it needs Volunteer work is rewarding

yearly maintenance, to prevent and fun. Helping out at the The pond will be achieved by the pond from becoming an Paddock and on our bat walks removing the existing soil and unsuitable habitat and useless to and surveys are great lining it with both a geotextile and bats. outdoor activities.

butyl liner. The edges will gently

Please, get in touch – slope, allowing for good marginal Management

we’d love to hear

areas. The excavated soil will be Lee Valley Bats, ARC, BTCV and from you !! recycled in certain areas within this open space. local volunteers will take a leading

role in managing the pond. This

will be done through planting Shape

event days and pond clearance

We are opting for an oblong- days, which should prevent the shaped pond with undulating pond from becoming overgrown. edges Chair: Grahame Pearce - Secretary, newsletter & website: Jeanette Sitton - http://www.leevalleybats.org.uk - [email protected] - 07888 875588

Paddock Serotines We will be running some Paddock Many thanks Simon

bat walks in the new year. If luck is

on our side, we hope to introduce Kareem, (LVB’s Conservation your eyes and ears to Serotines. Officer) and Jeanette surveyed Dates will soon be uploaded to our the Paddock for bats in August website. and were astonished by what we heard.

Bats have been detected at the Clutter & high frequency

Paddock only over the past 3 years.

Previous to this, both bat walks and In ‘cluttered’ environments, let’s surveys revealed none. This was say, for example, dense vegetation, most likely because it was a young bats navigate using a higher siteThis with is the no very mature same halogen trees lamp. as on the frequency. With echolocation waves As you may know, Simon King, previous page. bouncing off everything in their BBC Wildlife Filmmaker is our

direction of flight, they receive a Patron. precise snapshot of their surroundings and can dodge Jeanette & Phil (LVB) met Simon anything in their way. All this in last year at Lee Valley Regional total darkness. Park’s Spring Wildlife Weekend. We had a stall there. Whoops! Tottenham Cemetery bat box © Jeanette Sitton Jeanette went off to join Simon’s

Remember ... workshop on the sounds of the . bat walks and wild where she enjoyed hearing surveys begin in the a selection of real and synthetic

Spring. Check the website Above: This shows the Paddock’s trees in full leaf, animal calls, including whistles. though at the time of our August survey, they were less and winter newsletter. For surveys, The talk was really interesting. contact Jeanette on 020 8376 8088 dense (less clutter), giving us clearer echolocation results. The large white circle shows the location of or at: Serotine activity in August; the green dots signify bat [email protected] Within weeks of the event, we

boxes. wrote to Simon, asking if he The locations we covered this would become our Patron and The Paddock, as we know it, was year were: he agreed.

This diagram shows Paddock trees in full leaf. At the established in 2000. and it’s only time of our August survey, trees were less dense (with - Broxbourne, Herts now that trees are becoming roost- Simon continues to support our less clutter), giving clearer echolocation results. worthy – mature enough for roosting - Fishers Green, Essex Serotines at 27kHz were also recorded flying over open, work and displayed our mater- bats. - Cornmill Meadow, Herts low scrub areas. (The large white circle area above ials at this year’s Rutland indicates the location of Serotine activity in August; the - Tottenham Marshes, N17 Birdfair, the largest of it’s kind green dots indicate the bat boxes erected by Cindy During our bat survey in August, - Tottenham Cemetery, N17 in the world. Blaney this March, provided by LVB ). (although the sky was hardly - Downhills Park, N15 clear enough to see anything), - Lordship Rec, N17 we were deafened by a We wish Simon well and look - The Paddock, N17 surprisingly healthy number of forward to seeing him again. - Walthamstow Reservoirs, E17 Serotines at 27kHz. They were - Walthamstow Marshes, E17 flying in an area which included the new Bat Garden, (low - Hackney Marshes, E10 grassland and scrub) and the upper-most edge of the wilderness area, where earlier in the year Cindy Blaney, (London A close-up of Bat Group), kindly erected some of our bat boxes for us. Thanks a serotine, nd Cindy. (the UK’s 2

largest bat Come spring/summer, we’ll check for signs of roosting, (trees and bat boxes). Honestly speaking, we have species). no idea if bats are roosting at the Paddock, but we hope to give you In this photo, being some good news later next year. hand-reared by a batworker. Trun

Photo: Hon. Mem. Rollin Verlinde

hChair: Grahame Pearce - Secretary, newsletter & website: Jeanette Sitton - http://www.leevalleybats.org.uk - [email protected] - 07888 875588

A poor Brown Long- have any impact on bat populations (as Cindy Blaney we, at Amphibian and Reptile Photo (c) Jeanette Sitton eared bat Conservation, are researching with common toads).” This story was submitted to us by

Jules Howard, Head of Communications for ‘Amphibian Thanks for the story Jules. We and Reptile Conservation’, would also be interested in

(previously named Froglife). knowing just how common an

Although a tragic story – it’s a occurrence this is. Readers: have snapshot of the last moments of a you ever had a vehicular close Brown Long-eared bat with a encounter with a bat? If so, freshly caught meal. Bless! please tell us about it.

“I was driving along a country road in early August, on a clear, humid night and was marvelling at the number of Bat box checking at moths in the headlamps when all of a sudden I heard a knock against the Highgate Wood . bonnet. Whilst driving along, I was By Jeanette Sitton weighing up what it could be and came

to the conclusion that it must have been a bat. As I pulled up to my house, At around September each year, Sometimes they’re high up at I noticed that there was something Highgate Wood’s bat boxes are the back and if there’s more checked for bats. Cindy Blaney is stuck in my windscreen wiper, that than one chamber, there’s even looked like a big opened out star-fruit. I a Woodkeeper there - she’s also a more places to ‘hang’ out. got out of the car to have a look, and Tree Surgeon and a licensed bat much to my surprise, saw that it was in worker. Cindy looks forward to Even more tricky, is when they fact a long-eared bat (dead, but 'intact') finding out which species have are hanging on the inside of the with a large moth in its mouth. The 'star taken up residence from year to door itself – which is what fruit' observation came from the fact year. happened in this case. Cindy that the noticeable things sticking out managed to examine inside, (by of the windscreen wipers was the bat’s This year I joined her. I certainly this time the bats were awake, long ears and the large wings of a wasn’t going up any trees, (a step with eyes open), she securely moth! ladder is about all I can cope closed the box afterwards, but

with), and in any case, I’m not I would be interested in hearing still one bat flew out moments whether this is a common event, and if ladder trained yet. I did have one later. See the photo on the next page. vital role on the day though – I so, whether roads are thought to kept my foot firmly on the botton Disturbing bats in daylight is havenm rung of the ladder. Cindy wasn’t never good news, but hopefully

(c) Jules Howard going anywhere! this solitary flyer would have found somewhere dark and safe We rode around in the to roost until the evening. It’s Corporation of London’s electric only possible to check boxes for cart, with climbing materials in presence during the day - at the back clattering away. A night they’re out flying. To see a number of boxes had bats and by bat out during the day was a the end of the day, Cindy had first for me. It looked so out of counted no less than nineteen. place.

Opening bat boxes is always a Checking bat boxes

tricky business, it’s so easy for them to wake up. While most will You can understand why bat box return to torpor after a little checking is legally reserved for licensed bat workers.

disturbance, some get more

agitated, as did one of the 19 bats Kudos Cindy! You wouldn’t catch found. When bat boxes are me way up there at 40ft. opened, it’s impossible to tell whereabouts the bats might be. are Untimely demise: the Brown Long-eared bat

Chair: Grahame Pearce - Secretary, newsletter & webs ite: Jeanette Sitton - http://www.leevalleybats.org.uk - [email protected] - 07888 875588

Common Pipistrelles

“Even

If you think you have bats in Photo (c) Cindy Blaney

your boxes, (or anywhere else more for that matter), let your your tricky local county bat group know or give us a call on: 020 8376 when they 8088 or via email:

[email protected] are

hanging The bat that came out on the of the dark inside of INTERNATIONAL STORY By Matt Walker Bat box checking at Highgate Wood the door” Editor, Earth News

A tiny bat living in central Italy same time on the following days predators, while offering a has emerged from the dark and and the bats were there." bountiful supply of insect food. started hunting by day.

The scientists established that the The researchers suspect that This switch in hunting strategy is bats are soprano pipistrelles other local populations of bats highly unusual among insect- (Pipistrellus pygmaeus), a species may also have become day- ivorous bats, which routinely hunt with a high-pitched call that is hunters. at twilight or by night to avoid closely related to the common predators. pipistrelle (P. pipi-strellus). But they have not been recorded before by scientists as "bat Yet a small group of soprano The bats routinely come out to researchers seldom look for bats pipistrelles has been spotted forage well before sunset, in daytime", says Dr Russo. brazenly flying by day in a commonly feeding on gnats, mountain canyon within an Italian wasps and bugs. "In my career I have rarely come beech forest. across a fully occasional daytime Deadly trade-off flight," he adds. Only one other species of insectivorous bat frequently flies Such behaviour is extremely rare Individual bats are sometimes during daylight. seen flying during the day. But for insectivorous bats. These bats face a trade-off. During the day they usually do so soon after A research team lead by Dr Danilo there are more insects around to hibernation, when they are Russo, a bat expert from the feed on. But the bats themselves starving and need to replace fat University of Bristol, UK and the are very vulnerable to being reserves depleted during the University of Naples Federico II in caught and eaten by predatory winter. Italy report the discovery in the birds, which fly by sight. journal Mammalian Biology. "But this behaviour, performed

systematically, was absolutely So instead, the bats have evolved Together with colleagues from both to fly in the dark, only emerging new to us." institutions, Dr Russo initially set during the hours of twilight or out to find the roosts of another darkness. That keeps the bats Only one other bat, the Azores species, the barbastelle bat safe, and their echolocating ability noctule (Nyctalus azoreum), is (Barbastella barbastellus), in the allows them to navigate and hunt known to regularly hunt by day. beech forests within a mountain those insects that are still about. This species hunts insects in the canyon near the village of dry forests of the Azores, where Villavallelonga in the Abruzzo, Lazio there are no predatory birds that Yet over many evenings spread and Molise National Park in central over two summers, the fly by day. Italy.

researchers continually saw this

‘The bat that came out of the dark’

one population of soprano "One late afternoon, walking in the pipistrelles hunting insects by woodland, we spotted some bats day. The bats only do so at the flying unusually early," Dr Russo bottom of the canyon, where local explains. conditions seem to provide a safe haven for day flying.

"We thought the phenomenon might be occasional, as sometimes The forest canopy lining the happens, so we came back at the canyon protects the bats from same pred NPL/DIETMAR NILL Chair: Grahame Pearce - Secretary, newsletter & website: Jeanette Sitton - http://www.leevalleybats.org.uk - [email protected] - 07888 875588

LEDs and accepted norm but claims of 25 years are also being made. Exterior Lighting LED’s switch on instantly and do By Steven Lain, Team Leader not need to warm up, they can for Street Lighting, Haringey be dimmed and in one design from America run normally at There are now many street and 50% but have a motion sensor exterior designed LED (light that will bring them up to full emitting diodes) luminaires. The brightness - we are trialling 9 of rate of development by the major these at present. They may also names, Philips, Shreader, WRTL be used alongside the River Lee and Windsor, to name just a few, in Tottenham as long as the has exceeded my expectations by dimmed level still gives sufficient some margin. In Haringey we will vision for safety by pedestrians be running some trials to see if and cyclists. claims being made are actually Gough’s Cave @ Philip Hettiarachi (LVB) being delivered on the street.

There seems to be wide variance Regular readers of ECHO will However, I was very lucky to on performance, the claimed light notice that we regularly see one flying high from one output, the colour of the light feature street lighting articles side of a high dome to the other, emitted and the rate at which the and in particular those kindly then back again. LED’s have to powered in order to submitted to us by Steven deliver the claimed light levels. Lain. Lighting is a very Cheddar Gorge does offer a ‘Bat This rate of drive can have a important issue – for us, bats Patrol’ tour in July and August, significant effect on the life of the and all nocturnal wildlife. but, these walks start at dusk, light source and much is being so we have left that possibility made from company to company We will keep you informed of until other time. of the lowest levels being updates to lighting. achieved. We would like to thank Robby

Sukhdeo from the Pavilion at Without going into how LED’s Albert Road Recreation Ground, work the function of the ‘Diode’

N22, for lending us his people creates heat, this needs to be Trip to Cheddar Gorge By Cathy MacArthur carrier so that this trip could go dissipated and various ways have th Saturday, 19 September ahead.

been developed to ensure that

working levels are not exceeded This was another lovely day trip otherwise again the life of the FREE Lee Valley Bats – and cancellation was avoided Sunday Winter Workshops light source is significantly despite only three members able AT THE PADDOCK - 11am start

reduced. There is also the to make it on the day, myself, concern of the rate of 8th November Phil and Tommy. development of the LED’s, the Paddock botanical walk way they are arranged within the th The venue offered a diverse 15 November luminaire means that typically day’s activities, Gough’s Cave Water Voles & Weasels there are 20 to 80+ LED’s in an being the highlight, and the walk th array, these are driven by one or 13 December up Jacob’s ladder giving us a more electronic devices which Talk: Bats in trees, followed by habitat walk good overview of the bat’s control the voltage and current to th feeding ground in and around 10 January each LED. If, in say 8 years the Gorge. Swifts these fail, getting replacements st may be difficult because new Many species of bats roost in 31 January London’s Wildflowers products are constantly being these caves, the rarest of these Donations are introduced. The initial cost of LED th being the greater and lesser 7 February always welcome street lights is about 50% higher horseshoe bats. They are rather Urban ecology than a conventional street light, elusive during the day, th so we need to know that they 28 February especially when groups of cub An introduction to bats

have better performance over the Scouts come trooping through. claimed life, over 10 years and up See website for directions. especially when groups Small venue. to 15 years appears to be the Remember to book early! acco 15 Chair: Grahame Pearce - Secretary, newsletter & website: Jeanette Sitton - http://www.leevalleybats.org.uk - [email protected] - 07888 875588