Bat House Forum

[Dave Miller]

I ran across this short clip from a BBC TV show called "Autumnwatch":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/norfolk/hi/ ... 282761.stm

It is amazing to see the difference in awareness and support that bats receive in the UK vs. here in the US. i.e. how many volunteers do you know who drive around at night with bat detectors, gathering data on bats?

Here is the group that organizes the annual "England Count Bat project" in the UK: http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/count_bat_project.html

Someone here recently was wishing for migration maps, etc. for bats such as exist for birds. Perhaps if we had more people doing things like in this video clip, we would have migration maps etc.

[Karyl]

That is a good link, thank you for posting it. I agree with you about the awareness and support issue but it takes knowledgeable people to start and lead such things. Until the awareness factor spreads there will be no support.

Personally I have been interested in bats for years but I am naturally a wildlife aware person. Most people aren't. Finally I have put up a bat house and I am the first in my neighborhood - unlike bird houses which many people have. Well that's fine, I have a bat house, I have no bats yet of course but I really know nothing about bats. Still I have managed to build and give away two more bat houses. BUT is this a great idea? I don't know what I am doing, just follow instructions. Good intentions are a dangerous thing when it comes to living creatures. I could not ID a bat species if it fell on my foot due to lack of experience so it's the blind leading the blind. I have a keen understanding that there is more to backyard wildlife issues such as putting up a bird house or setting out a bee hive box. Bats can not be any different. All that I can do for bats is to make people feel that they are a good critter to have around - which they are.

I have looked for local bat groups, experts, education anything in my area. Getting involved and helping is a great way to learn however there is nothing. It takes someone who knows what they are doing and has the drive to deal with people to help educate the public before things such as group surveys can occur. The bat world is apparently a small one and leading, educating people is no easy task. Hopefully backyard bat habitat acceptance will grow and it will capture the interest of the person's who have the drive to become future experts. Personally I see it growing, perhaps at a crawl but still growing. Then the US can head towards more group activities.