Bat Conservation Project
The value of the Blackwater Valley for bats was first recognised when surveys carried out to assess the environmental impact of the Blackwater Valley Relief Road were carried out in 1990. These surveys found hundreds of bats feeding over the lakes to be affected by the road construction.
Close links with Surrey Bat Group and Hampshire Bat Group as well as the national Bat Conservation Trust have been forged to ensure mitigation measures for the road have been carried out to minimise its impact upon these bats. Work has not stopped here conservation work specifically for bats has extended across the whole valley.
- Mitigation measures for the road included planting many native trees, constructing a network of open ditches and ponds for bat flyways and feeding areas, and the construction of a large “bat cave” to replace lost roost sites
- Six sites have bat box schemes with over 150 boxes erected and checked annually
- A method to monitor Daubenton’s bats was developed in the Valley using local volunteers that become the basis for BCT National Daubenton’s survey
- A monitoring project funded by the Bat Conservation Trust to assess the impact of using the lakes for angling found that even lakes with heavy fish stocks supported a high density of feeding Pipistrelles, Noctule and Water bats
- Bat walks are held every year to introduce local people to these secretive creatures
Bat populations are under threat nationally, but the gravel pits and tree planting in the Valley over the last 50 years has created excellent bat habitat and lead to increasing populations of at least six species.
- 45kHz pipistrelle
- 55khZ pipistrelle
- Water (Daubenton’s) bat
- Noctule bat
- Long-eared bat
- Natterer’s bat
The bat conservation project will ensure bats will continue to thrive in the Valley for the foreseeable future.
Further information
Read Fish are a bats best friend article in the Blackwater Valley Newletter 2002.
Visit the following websites:
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