Taking part - roost owners

Taking Part in Surveys

Cottage (JJ Kaczanow)Roost Owners

If you have bats roosting on your property then you are in a good position to help us monitor the UK's bat populations by taking part in the Colony Count. All you need to do is stand outside the roost on two evenings in June and count the bats as they emerge. Further advice about bats in your house.

In addition, you could also help us locate other roosts in your area by taking part in the Sunset / Sunrise Survey. This simply involves looking out for bats at sunset and/or walking a route of your choice just before sunrise to look for bats 'swarming' at roost entrances.

More advanced surveys

You might also like to consider taking part in our bat detector surveys. These are a bit more advanced and require access to a bat detector. The simpler of these two surveys 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 field surveys.