S3E33 Discover the amazing work taking place in the dead of night each year by hoards of volunteers. This episode starts with Steve joining a team of these volunteers who are counting out a brown long-eared bat roost in the Derbyshire Dales at dusk as a nearby rookery gathers. We then sit down in Battersea Park, London with Philip Briggs, monitoring manager for the Bat Conservation Trust who collates all of this data sent in by volunteers and turns it into invaluable trends to establish how our bats are faring year on year in the UK.  The National Bat Monitoring Programme is one of the longest running citizen science projects in the world and YOU, yes YOU can take part! There are surveys which need no prior experience.

• Get involved with the NBMP yourself here
• Take a look at the summary maps for each survey type
• Watch footage of the brown long-eared roost being counted out by Jill in this episode here as the bats return at dawn
• Read the latest NBMP report to see how our bats are faring
• Please leave us a review of the show as it helps us get BatChat discovered by other listeners. Instructions of how to leave your review in each of these places can be found here.

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatConservationTrust
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_BCT_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batconservationtrust

For more bat news, head to our website https://www.bats.org.uk/

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan
Cover Art: Rachel Hudson http://rachelhudsonillustration.com/

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate Thank you!