Louise, Colin and myself, with the help of Geoff Wilson and some other EYBG volunteers, managed to cover three points across the two cemeteries. We met Jan Cleary of the Cemetery Volunteer Group at the start and set off on something other than bats. The cemetery volunteers are keen to survey for hedgehogs and wanted some advice on where to start. In the absence of a number of trail cameras a quick lesson in the identification of hedgehog scat was the order of the day, samples being brought from the garden where we regularly have hedgehogs visiting. Scat could be looked for at any time of day by the volunteers and would give a good indication of hedgehog usage.
It was then a walk for the teams to get to the sites in the Manor Road cemetery for an 8.50pm start, leaving one team by the chapel. The bats started early with Common pipitsrelle being recorded at all three points soon after dusk at 8.55. Common pips were feeding at all three sites almost continuously during the recording sessions with a few scattered records of Soprano pipitsrelle. Three passes of Myotis bats were recorded late in the session but could not be identified further. The ‘chapel’ team had to move a little away from the site as the security lights appeared to be deterring bats. A thought for the chapel upgrade would be better shielded lighting.
