Over the past four years, something remarkable happened across the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Hundreds of volunteers - many completely new to wildlife surveying - came together to help reveal the hidden lives of bats across the Bailiwick.
Night after night, across a variety of habitats, volunteers helped us deploy acoustic bat detectors, helping to build the most comprehensive picture ever assembled for bats in the Bailiwick. Read all about the results of this amazing project at the Bailiwick Bat Survey website https://bats.org.gg/
The result?
• Over 2,300 locations surveyed
• More than 9,000 nights of recording effort
• Millions of recordings analysed
• 14 bat species confirmed, including several never before recorded in the Bailiwick
• New discoveries not only for bats, but also for other wildlife such as shrews and bush-crickets detected during surveys
This extraordinary achievement was only possible because of the passion and dedication of local volunteers who gave their time to help us understand the wildlife around them.
The Bailiwick Bat Survey has already shown what a community can achieve together. With your support, we can now turn this incredible dataset into practical conservation action that protects wildlife for generations to come.
Every contribution helps us make full use of the data already collected and ensures bats — and the landscapes they depend on — continue to thrive.
We will use a professional data ecologist to –
• Carry out advanced habitat and landscape analysis
• Identify priority habitats and conservation actions
• Produce maps and guidance to support future planning and land management
• Share results with the community and decision-makers
• Build on the incredible work already achieved by volunteers
Most importantly, it ensures the effort given by hundreds of volunteers translates into real conservation outcomes.
