Bats rule the roost!
Illustrated talk on CWP bats with live bats
Despite the small numbers attending a recent talk in Ashton Keynes Village Hall on the subject of the bats of the Cotswold Water Park, those who came found it a fascinating evening.
Gareth Harris, of the Costwold Water Park Society spoke about the characteristics of bats, such as how they shout through their noses, collect food with their 'tails', and fly with their hands. 12 of the 16 species of UK bats can be foudn in the Cotswold Water Park, due to the rich abundance of food and suitable habitats, although much work is still to be done to encourage even greater numbers.
Houses, barns and trees in surrounding villages such as Somerford Keynes and Ashton Keynes provide a great habitat for bats, and it is hoped that in the long term surveys of these roosts can be made to furnish us with even more information about these declining species.
Of particular interest to the children in the audience was the collection of bats brought by Dave Endacott - he looks after injured bats to restore them back to full health before relasing them back into the wild.
However, the star of the evening was Belinda, a noctule bat which was too severely injured 10 years ago to ever fly again, so she now lives with Dave, and in return for luscious mealworms will quite happily sit on Dave's shoulder and squeak!
If you are interested in bats and would like to find out more about the work of the CWP Bat Initiative, go to the Biodiversity section of the website. There will also be another Bat Walk and Talk in September - watch out for more details on the Events page.
