The Carmarthenshire Bat Group has had two meetings this season. Last year’s wet summer led to some disappointing sessions so the group are hoping for better things this year. The first meeting was held at Llanedi church, which has a known brown long-eared bat roost. Unfortunately the weather was not great but everyone had a chance to see the bats roosting amongst the rafters before leaving the church.

Group members used bat detectors to identify the bats flying around the church. Bats use high-frequency calls, normally beyond the range of human hearing, called echolocation to build up a picture of their habitat and detect the insects they hunt. Bat detectors make the bats echolocation sounds audible to humans and as different species echolocate at different frequencies each species can be identified.

During Wales Biodiversity Week in June the Group held a meeting in Betws Park, Ammanford. Seventeen people attended this evening where, in addition to discovering more about the bats that use the park, a moth trap was also usedto attract moths to a halogen light where they were caught and identified. Although dry, the weather was cold and the moon bright, so not as many moths as hoped were caught.

Fortunately the bats were active and those who attended saw a number of species including pipistrellesfeeding high around the riverside trees and Daubentonscatching insects low over the river.

Bat group meetings are held monthly –contact Isabel Macho on 01267 224653, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details.