Creswell Crags hibernation survey

A full survey party from the Nottinghamshire Bat Group visited Creswell Crags on Saturday 6th February to see how the crag’s population of hibernating bats are doing in this strange winter we are having.  The crags are well known for their bat populations with several species recorded including Natterer’s, Daubenton’s, brown long-eared and whiskered bats.
creswell crags-lorna griffiths1 creswell crags-lorna griffiths2
We were led by honorary life member of the group Derrick Eames who has been studying the bats of the crags for over 30 years and the crags themselves for much longer (they were a popular playground for the local children long before their significance for bats was known!).  After an introduction to the crags by Derrick we ventured into the caves to see what we could find.  The majority of the group had not been to the crags before so this was a good opportunity to learn new surveying skills.

Robicreswell crags2n Hood’s cave is the largest of the caves here and was the first we surveyed. The number of droppings seemed to be down on previous years but we had a good search for bats without finding any. It’s always a difficult place to survey as most of the bats are tucked away in inaccessible places.  It was however a good opportunity to train people on how to safely use the groups new endoscopes which have been bought as part of our Heritage Lottery funded EchoLocation Location project.

The no bats theme continued in all of the caves we surveyed although evidence of bats was found in all off them.  The general impression was that activity was down on previous years which is perhaps an indication that the warm winter is having an effect of bat hibernation.

The survey ended with a successful visit to the visitor centre cafe.  Despite the lack of bats we had, as always, an enjoyable morning exploring the crags.

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