We met at Rodley Nature Reserve and split into two groups. I joined the 'grassland' transect group and we walked the transect route in daylight to ensure we knew where we were going. This proved a good idea, as the route was steep and tussocky in places, and it was difficult to navigate through the scrub and overgrown vegetation down by the river. It was almost dusk when we reached the far end of our transect, so we decided to start there and work backwards, concentrating on the tow path and making incursions into the grassland/scrub rather than risk injury navigating through the undergrowth in the dark.
Rather than the emergence surveys I have helped with in the past, this was a chance to experience another survey method. We walked a set transect, and at key 'listening points' we stopped for 3 minutes and made a note of the species seen and/or heard. Recordings were also made for later analysis. (We did also note down anything encountered whilst walking between the listening points).
Our first bat of the evening was a noctule - a large, bird-like shape flying high in the sky. Noctules made several appearances through the evening, though the most common species encountered were common pipistrelles with a few soprano pipistrelles also heard.
After the survey, I put my new found QGIS skills into practice and prepared a map of the route and listening points. A most enjoyable evening with good company, and hopefully producing some useful and informative results.
