BatFest Launch 2020

We kicked off our first BatFest on Saturday 29 August 2020 with our exciting live launch event, hosted by our President Chris Packham and our Helpline Manager Hannah van Hesteren.

We explored the wonderful world of bats and celebrated these amazing flying mammals with a host of bat friends online.

"A wonderful evening. 4 small people in our household (Annabelle 9, Lara 8, Genevieve 6 and Jamie 4) really enjoyed joining you. Jamie is our bat crazy one and was particularly excited to see the bats. Your work is really appreciated and we have so enjoyed being able to join in virtually." Bat Launch Viewer

During the action packed event, Chris and Hannah were joined by a variety of experts including Joel Ashton from the Butterfly Brothers, Alex from Jersey Zoo, Gail Armstrong from North Lancashire Bat Group as well as Craig Dunton, Carol Williams and Philip Briggs from the Bat Conservation Trust.

We shared the answers to lots of important questions like:

• Are bats really just flying mice?
• How do they find their way around in the dark?
• Why are we bothered about bats?
• What is the weirdest call Hannah has had on the Helpline?
• What was Chris' first experience of bats?

You can watch it all on our YouTube channel

Support for the event

We are grateful to NHBS and Wildlife Acoustics for co-sponsoring the BatFest Launch