In Memory of Lou Pickersgill - Somerset Bat Group

Lou Pickersgill died in June at the age of 64. Until her final illness Lou was Secretary of the Somerset Bat Group, a member of Dorset Bat Group and Avon Bat Group, Treasurer of the Somerset Mammal Group, Chairman of the Yeovil Area Group of the Somerset Wildlife Trust, a Voluntary Bat Warden and a dedicated surveyor for the NBMP and for the surveys of the various groups to which she belonged.

Lou had the unusual virtue of being both a superb organiser and motivator and an excellent field naturalist. She was the most dynamic secretary the Somerset Bat Group has ever had and everyone came to rely on her untiring efforts. It is not always easy to keep all the group up to scratch but Lou made sure that people turned out for every meeting. She was an essential part of the team for the Bechsteins Survey and the leader of the Barbastelle Survey on the Quantocks. Lou was the driving force behind many bat box schemes and a part of the group monitoring the hibernation sites in the Mendip cave. It was typical of Lou that only a few months before her untimely death, as she awaited chemotherapy, she was walking and mapping out transects for the new Brue Valley Big Bat Survey.

Our thoughts are with her partner, Nigel, and her sisters and brother. Lou faced her illness with characteristic practicality and pragmatism. She enjoyed her life and whilst frustrated at not being able to do more she saw much to celebrate in what she had seen and inspired others to enjoy. She will be remembered and greatly missed by everyone who knew her.