RoostWatch
RoostWatch
Help in bat conservation by taking photos, sharing your sightings and looking for indication of bats roosting.
The top tips for looking for bats around homes, gardens and outbuildings include:
- look for gaps where bats might squeeze in (e. G. Under roof tiles, behind cladding, fascia boards etc).
- Look for holes in trees, e. G. Woodpecker holes, cracks in branches or lifted bark.
- Look on the ground, windowsills, and walls for crumbly droppings, and look for dark stains just below a gap where bat roosts may be present.
- If you are going into an open space like a barn or attic, keep an eye out for piles of crumbly droppings and insect wings on the floor.
- At dusk, enjoy the warm evenings in your garden while looking for bats leaving their roosts.
Click here for a helpful roost watching guide
Liz walsh, senior environment officer, said: 18 different species of bat have been recorded in Jersey, but for many of these species little is known of their roosting sites. Knowing where bats are resting during the day enables researchers to gather important data about the features bats choose to roost in and enable the recording of bat sounds as they fly to and from their roosts. These bat sounds or echolocation calls are key to the development of future methods to monitor bat populations.
Protecting and monitoring bats is particularly important to us as the moment as bats are facing threats including climate change, falling insect numbers, light pollution and a habitat loss. Roostwatch aims to increase our understanding of the places that bats in jersey call home, which will enable us to do further research and help us assess their conservation status in our island.
Partnership project with The Government of Jersey's natural environment team and the Jersey Biodiversity Centre.