The Bats of Beachamwell
In the summer of last year the Beachamwell Parish Council borrowed some
specialist equipment from the British Trust for Ornithology (based in nearby
Thetford) which enabled us to record the sounds made by insects and bats
during the night in our village. Thanks to amazing technology the BTO can
upload ultrasonic recordings to a computing platform where algorithms then
identify all UK bat species by analysing echolocation sounds, feeding buzzes
and social calls. The results are transferred to their ‘Acoustic Pipeline’ for
research and reference either by yourself or by the BTO:
Using the recording equipment was relatively easy thanks to the detailed
instructions from the BTO. During the month of August, we set it up to record
acoustic data in five different garden locations spread across the village,
recording in each for two nights in succession. The results were quite
extraordinary.
There are eighteen species of bat resident in the UK and seventeen of them
breed here. Of these seventeen, the results in Beachamwell showed that we
can boast of at least eight species, two of which are classified as rare or
‘vulnerable’.
The six commoner bat species which have made their home in our village are
the Brown Long Eared Bat, the Common Pipistrelle, Natterer’s Bat, the
Noctule, the Soprano Pipistrelle and Leisler’s Bat, with the Common
Pipistrelle being present in the greatest numbers. The Noctule and Soprano
Pipistrelle registered in lesser but still large numbers and the remaining
species have much smaller populations.
Further information about each of these species – their appearance, their
behaviours, their preferred habitat – can easily be found at the Bat
Conservation Trust website:
UK Bats – Types of bats – Bat Conservation Trust
As if six species weren’t enough for one Norfolk village it appears that we are
also home to two rare species, species that were recorded in small numbers
in every single location we set up the equipment. These are the Serotine and
the Barbastelle.
The Serotine, according the the Bat Conservation Trust, is one of Britain’s
largest species and is one of the first to appear of an evening ‘often
appearing in good light’. They are usually found in old houses and churches
rather than modern buildings and rarely, almost never, roost in trees. As such,
they are one of the most building-orientated of bats. They are in decline
because of building work and the use of chemicals to treat timbers and are
now listed as ‘vulnerable’. They remain only in the South and East of England
and we are extremely lucky to host them here in Beachamwell.
Our second even rarer inhabitant is the Barbestelle, also classed as
‘vulnerable’. The Barbestelle is ‘a distinctive species, with a pug-like face and
large wide ears’, medium in size and a fast and agile flyer. The Barbestelle is
very rare, again only found in Southern and Eastern counties of England.
They prefer pastoral landscapes with deciduous woodland and water
meadows. We recorded enough Barbestelle sounds in all five garden
locations to be certain they are visiting the village, and perhaps breeding in it,
although this is unlikely. As one of Britain’s rarest mammals, little is known of
their mating habits. Unlike the Serotine they are known to roost in tree
crevices and hollow trees as well as in crevices in buildings.
The Acoustic Pipeline results also showed that we are home to large numbers
of Speckled Bush Crickets, smaller populations of both Dark Bush Crickets
and Great Green Bush Crickets, wood mice, European Pygmy Shrews and
Common Shrews!
The Beachamwell Parish Council would like to thank the British Trust for
Ornithology for the free provision of the specialist recording equipment and in
particular Hazel McCambridge for uploading all our data to the Acoustic
Pipeline when it should have been done by us. Finally, huge thanks to all the
enthusiastic villagers who took part in the Survey.
Jonathan Cooper, Parish Councillor