Help count Frome’s bat population this summer by volunteering at the two Big Community Bat Counts, taking place on Friday 12th May and Wednesday 23rd August. The events are being organised by Frome Town Council, The Wild Bunch and FROGS and while they are being supported by the Somerset Bat Group, they would like volunteers of all ages to submit their interest today and to get involved to help monitor the bat population in town.
Jo Morris, Frome Town Council’s Resilience Officer, said: “This is a really exciting project and we’re really keen for lots of residents to get involved. We have a few places around town that we will monitor but we’d also love to hear your recommendations for places – maybe you’ve seen bats in your area or one of our open spaces? We hope to have up to 10 locations on each date, with volunteers working in each location. Somerset Bat Group are kindly lending us the equipment which is fun and very easy to use. Don’t worry if you’ve never done it before, all volunteers will be briefed on how to use it on the day.”
Cllr Ben Still added: “The findings will help us monitor the population of different bats in town, help us provide more habitats in appropriate places, and will contribute to Frome Community Wildlife Mapping Project on iNaturalist. The data gathered will help us produce a baseline for monitoring biodiversity across town to inform Frome Town Council’s response to the ecological emergency.”
On the day, each count will last about 60 mins plus a briefing beforehand, so lasting no longer than 2 hours in total, bearing in mind the sunset times, below are the timings:
- Friday 12th May – meet at 8 PM for the briefing, and a 8:50 PM count start
- Weds 23rd August – meet at 7:30 PM for the briefing, and a 8:15 PM count start
If you would like to get involved the deadline for submitting interest Friday 14th April, please contact Jo Morris.
The bat count is supported by the Somerset Bat Group and Somerset Wildlife Trust. The equipment is funded by Somerset Environmental Records Centre (SERC).
