Bat Ecology

I attended a really interesting training course on Monday, run by the Bat Conservation Trust as part of their foundation training programme. It was held in the beautiful Clumber Park, that I have not visited for several years, and run by Dean Waters of Vespero Consulting.

It was a fairly small group of six delegates - all of us beginners - so there was plenty of opportunity for questions without feeling too stupid. A large part of the course was spent on bat features and identification. After a picnic lunch in the garden, there was the chance to put this into practice during a practical 'test' using key features to identify the different British species. This was mostly straight-forward (just a couple of the trickier ones needed a second look) - though no doubt it would be much harder with live specimens that don't want to be held and measured!

Now I just need some time and opportunity to get out and put this into practice!