Bat Conservation Trust
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|
| Formation | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Type | Conservation charity |
| Registration no. |
England and Wales charity number 1012361 Scotland charity number SC040116) |
| Headquarters | Vauxhall, London, United Kingdom |
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President
|
Chris Packham |
|
Joint chief executives
|
Julia Hanmer & Kit Stoner |
| Website | www |
The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) is a registered British charity dedicated to the conservation of bats and their habitats in the UK. BCT was founded in 1991 and is the only national organisation solely devoted to bats. Its vision is a world where bats and people live in harmony. BCT currently has a membership of around 5,600, including individuals, families, teachers and youth workers and corporate businesses.
BCT’s work is based on four key objectives, which are seen as critical to maintaining a sustainable, diverse bat population in the UK:
BCT runs the National Bat Helpline, providing information to anyone needing advice on issues relating to bats, and connecting people with local bat carers and volunteers if necessary. The helpline received over 13,000 enquiries in 2013. Users can telephone the helpline directly (on 0345 1300 228) or submit queries via a form on BCT's website.
The National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP) was launched in 1996 and consists of a number of national, annual surveys carried out by a network of volunteers across the UK. The NBMP is a partnership between Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Defra and Natural Resources Wales (NRW). Natural England (NE) also contribute to the programme.
BCT runs NBMP surveys aimed at beginners as well as experts, and their current surveys include the Sunset/Sunrise survey, Field Survey, Waterway Survey, Roost Count, Hibernation Survey, Woodland Survey and Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Survey. The results from these surveys are compiled into an annual report, available to view on the BCT website. Currently, statistically robust trends are produced for 11 of the UK’s 17 breeding species.
NBMP data support and inform conservation action and key government biodiversity and monitoring and reporting including UK and country biodiversity strategies, the Habitats Directive and the UN Eurobats agreement. NBMP data from selected species are used to produce one of the annual UK Biodiversity Indicators, high-level measures which are used to report on progress towards meeting goals and targets for the conservation of biological diversity.
In 2009, as part of the National Bat Monitoring Programme, BCT began the first systematic UK-wide survey of Nathusius’ pipistrelles in order to improve knowledge of the distribution of this species. Nathusius’ pipistrelle is considered to be rare in the UK but is widespread and may be under-recorded in some areas. As this species is often found at large water bodies, particularly during the autumn migration period, the survey involves surveying lakes twice during September, and making audio recordings from broadband bat detectors in order to verify Nathusius’ pipistrelle calls through sonogram analysis.
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