An innovative scheme to track bat migration has been given a boost with an extra receiver at Essex & Suffolk Water in Norfolk.
The Norfolk and Norwich Bat Group requested funding from Essex & Suffolk Water’s Branch Out funding scheme to have a MOTUS receiver placed on top of the Ormesby Water Treatment Works as part of a network of receivers to help track the movements of Nathusius pipistrelle bats.
The group have been involved in this study around the Trinity Broads for over seven years, discovering important feeding and breeding areas for the bats. Branch Out funding has allowed the installation of the receiver, taking the study to the next level and allowing the group to gather much needed data on the migration habits of this species of bat which has a stronghold in the Norfolk Broads area.
The MOTUS receiver is one of a wide network in mainland Europe, which allows the Norfolk and Norwich Bat Group to understand more about this particular species of bat and their migration habits.
Tiny radio tags are attached between the bat’s shoulder blades by licenced bat group volunteers. The signal from the radio tags is detected by the receivers so that the movement of the bats can be mapped.
Nathusius’ pipistrelles were caught and tagged at Winterton Dunes in September when they were arriving from mainland Europe. One bat flew inland to the Essex & Suffolk Water site where it was detected on the new receiver for several days. It made flights between Ormesby and Caister, before migrating south to Minsmere and Felixstowe in Suffolk.
It is hoped that the information gathered will ultimately help protect these vulnerable mammals.
Helen Jacobs, Conservation Team Leader, said: “It was a brilliant opportunity for Essex & Suffolk Water to fund and be part of important conservation work to better understand the migration of these wonderful animals.
“Bats, which are protected under UK Law, are a good indicator of a healthy environment and are efficient predators of insects – including midges and mosquitoes. They’re an important piece of the ecosystem at the Trinity Broads, which supply water to the Great Yarmouth area, and where we work as part of the Trinity Broads Partnership conserving the broads.”