Back at the beinging of the month, myself and 3 other members went to see if there were any bats swarming around Luton Hoo's artifical Hibernation site. We heard lots of bats including myotis, BLEB, both pip species and Noctule.
A couple of weeks later 5 members went back to confirm the site was being used, this time armed with a harp trap and mist nets, we spent an age waiting and hearing nothing but around 11.00pm we heard a myotis bat.
Not two minutes later he flew into the net, a male natterers in breeding condition, a further three males were netted all of which were in breeding condition.
We can now reveal that this is the first confirmed autunm swarming site in Bedfordshire, which considering the hibernation site has only been in place for around 4 years is an important discovery. Luton Hoo estate (Elite Hotels, Richard Biffen) are very happy about this and are continuing to support our work here, so a big thankyou to Richard for the access permission and continued interest in the bat activity at Luton Hoo.
The Bedfordshire Bat Group was formed in 1988 and is affiliated to the Bedfordshire Natural History Society and a partner group of the national organisation, The Bat Conservation Trust. The bat group works for bat conservation within Bedfordshire and Luton;carries out surveys of bats and maintains a database of bat records; works with people to provide information and raise awareness of bat conservation; and, when necessary, carries out bat care and rehabilitation
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