Wales Bat Worker's Day

Wales Bat Worker's Day

The rare lesser horseshoe bat can be found in Wales - Gareth Jones

The Wales Bat Worker's Day is for anyone with an interest in bats! It is a good way to meet others who are involved in bats work, professional and voluntary. It’s also a chance to develop knowledge and skills that can support bat conservation.

The last event was held on Saturday 4th November 2023 at the Centre for Alternative Technologies near Machynlleth, Powys.

Talks given:

  • Natur am Byth: stars of the night – Claire Boothby, BCT. Hear about the BCT led project looking to protect a population of lesser horseshoe bats on the Gower peninsula.
  • Natur am Byth: barbastelles in Pembrokeshire – Daniel Hargreaves, VWT. Natur am Byth is Wales’ flagship species recovery programme uniting nine environmental NGOs with NRW in the largest ever partnership of its kind in Wales. The Vincent Wildlife Trust are leading on a project to understand and conserve the barbastelle bat in Pembrokeshire
  • An example of exemplar Local Planning Authority practices – Andrew Cutts, Denbighshire County Council.
  • Stackpole's bats - Paul Culyer. Paul shares news from Stackpole, an important site for both horseshoe species, that has been closely monitored for many years.
  • Gobaith Coetir/Woodland Hope – Nicky Fish & Elliot Bastos, BCT. BCT’s latest project aims to assess the health of Celtic rainforest in North Wales, whilst bridging the gap between local communities and their woodland heritage.
  • Gower churches project - Mark Barber, Swansea Council and Glamorgan Bat Group. Welsh Government funded project through Gower AONB team in Swansea Council, working with churches to mitigate bat/bird conflict and undertake nature enhancement works.
  • Combatting negative COVID press through education: Cardiff Bat Group’s online education project – Jessica Dangerfield, Cardiff Bat Group. A talk on Cardiff Bat Group’s online education project run throughout the COVID lockdowns to combat the negative press received by bats due to the pandemic.
  • And updates from BCT and Natural Resources Wales.

Workshops included a practical 'advanced survey techniques' and 'Records on Cofnod', along with 'Futureproofing horseshoe roosts', 'Visual bat ID', 'Social media tips' and two levels of sound analysis.

Sponsoring or exhibiting at a BCT event

Wales Bat Worker's Day

Thanks to the sponsors of this event: Wildlife Acoustics

If you are interested in sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, please contact Naomi Webster, Training and Conferences Manager for details: nwebster@bats.org.uk.

Previous Wales Bat Workers Day 2022

The previous event was online in February 2022, dedicated to Tom McOwat, who sadly passed away. Tom was a pillar of the bat conservation community, his reach extending far beyond Wales and his outstanding achievements have helped shape bat conservation today. The programme included talks on Nathusius’ navigation and Natur am Byth, workshops on project development for bat groups and infra-red surveys, and finished with a discussion session.

Next: Wales Bat Conference