I decided to have a quick walk down to Rush Meadow, near Scarning, at 7.10am and take a look at my local patch.
A view of Rush Meadow from the pathway, alongside the stream.
The weather forecast stated that it would be around 8°C, but with the spring sun and very little cloud, it felt considerably warmer. As a result, the following was seen throughout the morning:
Goldfinch x 4
Greenfinch x 2
Blackcap x 3 - A pair were seen together in the woodland, alongside the pathway, on the north eastern corner of the reserve.
Pied Wagtail x 2 - A pair were seen outside the entrance to the sewage works. Significantly lower numbers than had previously been seen here.
Swallow x 7 - All of the birds were perched on a wire suspended above the entrance to the sewage works.
House Martin x 1 - A single bird seen perched with the Swallows.
Songthrush x 1
Little Egret x 1 Kingfisher x 1 - It was seen flying south along the stream, approaching the sewage works.
Grey Heron x 1
Wren x 2
Jay x 2
Kestrel x 1 - It was seen hovering high above the woodland, then drifted north.
It was also interesting to see that the Norfolk Wildlife Trust had been spending some time on the reserve trying to recover some of the species-rich vegetation, after extensive scrub growth over the years.
According to the WREN website, who are providing funding, they will be carrying out a combination of urgently required restoration work and the development of more sustainable site management practices.
This would include the:-
Restoration of the central dyke and the removal of scrub encroachment
Introduction of water-level management
Introduction of a sustainable grazing regime
There is also similar work being carried out at Scarning Fen, in an attempt to secure the future condition of these two sites on the Dereham stream corridor.
What is the Norfolk Bat Survey?
The Norfolk Bat Survey was launched by Dr Stuart Newson at the British Trust for Ornithology in April 2013, to improve our understanding of bats and support their conservation. Since this time, the project has analysed over a million bat recordings from across the county.
With the help of volunteers, the project conducts bat surveys across the whole of Norfolk (and in parts of Suffolk), by providing an opportunity for anyone to take advantage of recent advances in technology for automating the capture and analysis of acoustic data for bats.
The sophisticated equipment is placed at three different locations within a 1km square, which is allocated to a volunteer, and it will record any bat calls throughout the consecutive nights.
These recordings are stored on an SD card which then can be accessed through a computer. Then sound analysis software (such as BatScan) can then be used to closely identify individual species.
Scarning Water Meadows
As part of the project, I'm responsible for monitoring bat activity in Scarning Water Meadows.
The diagram below represents the specific areas, within Dereham, where the recordings will be taking place. The red square, to the bottom left of the image, is where the majority of my recordings will be taking place from the beginning of May until the end of September.
Areas being monitored as part of the Norfolk Bat Survey are highlighted red.
As different species have successfully been identified I'll report the findings (along with uploading the recordings) on this blog. The following information was provided by Hazel Jones (Bat Survey Organiser) at the British Trust for Ornithology.
Results from Saturday 6th May 2017 at TF 97961 12443
The analysis of the recordings detected the following species. The numbers relate to the number of bat passes rather than the number of individual bats.
Species
Total number of passes (all
night)
Common Pipistrelle
490
Leisler's bat
1
Natterer's bat
3
Noctule
32
Serotine
3
Soprano Pipistrelle
40
Below are details of recordings that could not be assigned with any certainty to a single species.
Species
Total number of passes (all
night)
Leisler's bat or Noctule
14
Myotis species
4
Pipistrelle species
7
Results from Monday 8th May 2017 at TF 98466 13275
The analysis of the recordings detected the following species. The numbers relate to the number of bat passes rather than the number of individual bats.
Species
Total number of passes (all
night)
Barbastelle
5
Common Pipistrelle
1
Leisler's bat
1
Natterer's bat
1
Noctule
18
Serotine
2
Soprano Pipistrelle
23
Below are details of recordings that could not be assigned with any certainty to a single species.
Species
Total number of passes (all
night)
Leisler's bat or Noctule
6
Myotis species
2
Pipistrelle species
9
Species Information and Distribution across Norfolk
Common Pipistrelle and Soprano Pipistrelle
The two commonest Pipistrelle species found in the UK, the Common and Soprano Pipistrelles, were only identified as separate species in the 1990s. The two species look very similar and often the easiest way to tell them apart is from the frequency of their echolocation calls.
Soprano Pipistrelle
Common Pipistrelle
The map on the left shows distribution and the map on the right (if present) shows patterns of activity. Deeper red indicates higher certainty of occurrence or greater activity. Maps are derived from statistical models using climate and land cover to explain and predict bat data.
The distribution of the Soprano Pipistrelle bat species in Norfolk.
The distribution of the Common Pipistrelle bat species in Norfolk.
Noctule
The Noctule is one of the largest British species and is usually the first bat to appear in the evening, sometimes even before sunset. They fly in the open, often well above tree-top level, with repeated steep dives when chasing insects. This species can fly at 50kph.
Noctule
The map on the left shows distribution and the map on the right (if present) shows patterns of activity. Deeper red indicates higher certainty of occurrence or greater activity. Maps are derived from statistical models using climate and land cover to explain and predict bat data.
The distribution of the Noctule bat species in Norfolk
Natterer’s bat
Natterer’s bats have a slow to medium-paced flight, sometimes over water, but more often amongst trees, where their broad wings and tail membrane give them great manoeuvrability at slow speed. They normally fly at heights of less than 5m, but occasionally may reach 15m in the tree canopy. Much of the prey is taken from foliage and includes many flightless or day-flying insects.
Natterer's Bat
The map on the left shows distribution and the map on the right (if present) shows patterns of activity. Deeper red indicates higher certainty of occurrence or greater activity. Maps are derived from statistical models using climate and land cover to explain and predict bat data.
The distribution of the Natterer's bat species in Norfolk
Along with my 4 year old son, we decided to go on a minibeast hunt in Scarning Water Meadows.
We managed to find the following over a two hour period in the afternoon: Brimstone x 1 Small Tortoiseshell x 6 7-Spot Ladybird x 2 Dark-edged Bee-fly x 1
