Wildlife Circus

Batty Boat Trip 2012 Over the past 8 years, the London Bat Group Batty Boat Trip has provided time series data, of the bat activity along stretches of the river at Hampton Wick, Kingston, Surbiton and Thames Ditton (see Bat Pages for a species list, right hand tabs). It is one of the annual monitoring visits studying the bats at the Seething Wells Filter Beds. This year there has been concern at the change in activity at the site. We failed to see any Daubenton's bats during their emergence period. A subsequent visit in perfect weather conditions ( 8/8 cloud cover, 16 degrees, no wind,17.6.12) noted that animal numbers and the pattern of activity has changed significantly. Animal numbers are reduced and the bats had no urgency to emerge as per adults with young to feed. The light sampling behaviour normally observed, was not apparent to the same degree as in previous years. When bats have young, the adults need to forage close-by, as they must return to feed their pups...

see post  bats-and-lighting . The lights in London are getting brighter, bucking the trend across counties such as Norfolk and Leicestershire, which have moved to part-night lighting (mainly as a costcutter). This picture clearly shows the darkest areas in London and it is no coincidence that these are the  most productive when it comes to bat foraging activity:  London By night André Kuipers ESA/NASA  The darker areas are particularly important for bats of the genus Myotis such as the Daubenton's bats roosting at the Filter Beds, a declining species in the London Region (Briggs et al LNHS no. 86 2007). Although the Filter Beds suffer some light pollution from sources such as streetlights and accent lighting from nearby buildings, this is insufficient to prevent foraging by Daubenton's bats. However the planned lighting programme for the Filter Beds will be excessive with ten different types of lighting shown in this key. Some of these luminaires are so...

Filter Beds, 2010 courtesy N. Jackman The winners of the S.W. Wildlife Competition have been  notified of their prizes. Thank you to those who also sent photos. One of the prizes, is a place on the London Bat Group/Community Brain Batty Boat Trip. The boat trip has been held annually (every June 8th) since 2006, in order to monitor the bat activity along the R. Thames between Steven's Eyot and Hampton Court Bridge. This type of 'time series' data is invaluable in monitoring the diversity of species, levels of bat activity and any change along this stretch of the river. We time the boat trip to be alongside Seething Wells, as the Daubenton's bats are 'light sampling ' within their roost. Over the years we have noted changes in the local bat population, especially a reduction in the number of species.  This includes the loss of serotine (now rarely recorded in the borough) and the decline in  Natterer's bat registrations, only ever recorded foraging arou...

December , 2010 Ecologists undertake what is called an evaluation of the habitats and species within a site. This means that they assess the rarity and fragility of it's ecological communities. This is often undertaken during an Environmental Impact Assessment. An EIA is performed when requested by a planning authority. During the EIA undertaken by Thames Water at Seething Wells, some of the ecological communities were assessed as of HIGH REGIONAL VALUE. This was part due to the invertebrate fauna in the standing water.  Four water beetles were described as Nationally Notable B species, two of which were described as 'rare inland'. The bird community is complex to describe, due to many factors including: the cyclical nature of bird populations. But reed bunting, a rare breeding species once found at Filter Bed 7, is even rarer now (sadly no longer recorded in urban areas, only at the fringes of the borough). The calcareous grassy banks (see post below) once...

Daubenton's roost distribution London Bat Group 2011. Knowledge of a roost location is usually kept ‘secret’. However, the Daubenton's maternity colony at Seething Wells has become widely known and why not, it is something we should celebrate. What hasn't been publicised is the rarity of Daubenton's colonies in London. The distribution map indicates known Daubenton's roosts within the London Region, recorded within the last 5 years. These are marked by the grey dots of which there are only 4.The black dots are the numbers of Daubenton's roosts known in the last ten years swelling the total to nine. The red dots indicate all the roosts we have ever known since we began recording. The blue dots equate to all flying records and the open water habitats where this bat is found. Daubenton's bats require very specific habitat requirements. Daubenton's bat Daubenton’s bats are closely associated with water and this species is known for its habit of...