Are There Bats in Salthill?
The Bat Walk Pilot
This was a fantastic question, and Paula Kearney, biodiversity officer of Galway City Council, posed it after delivering us an Explore Your Shore! A kit that included a Bat Walk Kit.
We did not know anything about Bats. However, this idea promotes the fundamentals of Citizen Science, where the goal is to encourage people to become more aware and active learners about the biodiversity that surrounds us.
We learned so much from this experience, and it was a lot of fun.
Organising The Walks
This was a challenge at the beginning, as we did not know where to find Bats or what time was optimal. We surveyed three sites before advertising from 7.30 pm onwards.
The Canals (By St. Joseph’s Church), Galway City.
This was a fantastic location as many bats were flying around, and the echo locations were pretty constant. Sightings were there, but intermittent, only when they flew by a light source like a lamp.
The turnout was low at the start, but we did have some people ask what we were doing. Once we explained, they had a go at recording and stayed for a while to experience the Bats.
This proved to be a good location, yet parking seemed to be a big issue.
The Circle of Life, Salthill
This was another mixed response, on the first survey it was like a ‘Bat Choir’, loads of bats and we were getting many different ‘clicks’, however, after three more surveys the Bats seemed to have disappeared……yet it was this disappearance that promoted an even better spot in Salthill.
Ladies Beach, Salthill.
As we said earlier, after visiting the Circle of Life and getting no responses, we decided to walk along the ‘prom’, early research did say that Bats can be found by the sea.
As we were walking along the ‘prom’, there were no clicks until we approached Ladies Beach, where the echo locations started fluctuating, but then turned into a pretty cool ‘feeding buzz’.
This was a really nice sight to experience the Bats, and we started to return at earlier intervals, from 9 pm– 830–8…… until we tried 7 pm where light was just fading, At about 7.05 we observed a solitary bat fly from the circle of life, and it began to feed above Ladies Beach.
This was an incredibly special moment, as we looked across the shore and saw even more bats, flying and hunting. The bats were in full flight and hunting just above our heads.
It was truly amazing to actually ‘SEE’ the bats up close.
This pattern of behaviour continued every time we went to Ladies Beach.
Then it had to end
The final Bat Walk
We knew that the Bats were going to hibernate, yet given the frequency of Bats on Ladies Beach, we organised one final walk; this time, instead of getting emails, we planned and advertised it much earlier. The weather looked great, and we were excited to close off this Pilot experience.
But alas, the rain had arrived…..and this meant that there would be no bat sightings this evening. While we did have some backup plan, info sheets, and prerecorded bat recordings….it was a disappointing end to a fantastic few weeks of Bat Walks.
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Summary
Overall, this was a very successful pilot.
We learned so much, and we believe there is interest, and we should run this series next year.
Turnout was low initially; however, as we adjusted strategies, we went from 3 to 6 to 24 people attending the walks (plus people walking by). The ‘Prom’ is great as there are so many people walking by.
Local knowledge is key too, a Salthill Sea Swimmer noticed we were getting ready for the Bat Walk and said yes, there are Bats flying every night. It would be great to ask them next year if they have noticed the Bats flying and make plans for the next walks.
Some key points
EDUCATION
We believe that there would be a need to host a series of Bat Talks in the Aquarium, to inform the public about the importance of Bats for the environment.
We did not know how to record them, so we can include this as part of the activity.
GUIDED WALKS
Having an experienced guide for some of the walks would be very beneficial, so we can mix up the self-guided and guided walks. The SUMMER and October walks would be really important to maintain.
Equipment
It would be beneficial to have four Bat Detectors and a powerful torch to help guide the participants. If Ladies Beach is a good site, we could make this the starting point and finish at the Diving Tower (the Golf Course would be an excellent site)
We are going to miss the Bat Walks, but this will be something we can plan for and with the support of our local council and Biodiversity office, we imagine this is going to be a fantastic experience for everyone.
OH! Yes, there are bats in Salthill, Thanks Paula we loved it!
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