Sunset / Sunrise Survey
This year the Sunset-Sunrise Survey will take place over the weekend of 19th/20th July, but you can do the survey within three weeks on either side of these dates.
How to take part
There are two parts to this survey. You can take part in either survey or both, but the more help you can give us, the more chance you have of finding bats!
The Sunset Survey couldn't be easier! Simply spend the evening in your garden and watch out for any bats that fly past. Record how many bats you see, which species they are (if you think you know) and, most importantly, which direction they are flying from.
The Sunrise Survey involves going out just before dawn to look for bats swarming before they return to their roost. If you have already done the Sunset Survey and saw bats flying past, you should walk in the direction from which most of them seemed to be coming.
This survey is aimed at beginners and is an excellent way of contributing to the monitoring programme if you don't have any previous experience of bat surveying.
Click here for the Sunset/Sunrise Survey form
Other surveys
If you know of any bat roosts in your area then please consider taking part in the Colony Count. If you have some experience of using a bat detector then we need your help with our bat detector surveys. The simpler of the two is the Waterway Survey which just requires you to count Daubenton's bats as they skim over the surface of the water. The Field Survey is for more experienced surveyors who are able to identify noctule, serotine, common pipistrelle and soprano pipistrelle in the field. If you have access to a frequency division detector (such as the Duet) and a digital recording device, you can take part in the Woodland Survey which focuses on the rare barbastelle.
If you are interested in improving your skills we run bat detector workshops, so that volunteers can take part in our surveys.