Population Trends

The data that we have already collected has indicated population changes in some species. We need to continue to survey the UK’s bats for many more years in order to determine whether these are long-term trends or simply short-term fluctuations.

We produce annual population trends for each target species. The latest significant trends are shown here, showing population increases for four of them:

• common pipistrelle
• Natterer’s bat
• greater horseshoe
• lesser horseshoe.

Whiskered/Brandt's bat, Daubenton's bat, soprano pipistrelle and brown long-eared bat all show stable trends, whereas noctule and serotine do not show statistically significant changes.

The trends shown in these charts are for the bats covered by the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) and other bat species respectively.

To find out more about the population trends and Biodiversity Action Plans follow the links to our reports and leaflets at the end of the tutorial.