The recently formed Friends of Oxleas Woodlands are holding a bat walk next Friday, 27th April starting at 8.00pm at the Crookston Road entrance to the woodlands. The walk is free, but places are limited and booking is necessary. Their poster gives the details:
Oxleas Woodlands Bat Walk.
Friday 27thApril at 8pm
Come along and meet our local Bat population.
Use bat detectors to hear the bats in action as they hunt for insects, and try to identify which species of Bat there are in the woods. Bat detectors will be provided. But dress warmly for the evening and wear footwear suitable for walking in the woods. You may want to bring a torch too!
Numbers will be limited to 40, including children. So BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL.
Email the Friends’ Secretary, Sue Reeve at suereeve@virginmedia.com to book your place.
We will need to know your name and how many you are booking for; (Max 2 adults and three children per booking, but please contact us if you need to vary this or wish to book for friends too.) We will also need a telephone number to contact you in case there is a need to cancel due to bad weather. (Bat’s don’t like it when it’s raining!).
Meet at the Crookston Road entrance to the woods at 7.55pm.
We are planning another bat walk later in the year.
This is the Friends’ first event since their inaugural general meeting on 7th March, but they plan to hold other events such as history walks and wildlife and plant surveys. They have also held a number of litter picking sessions; the next one is on Saturday 21st April meeting at the café at 10am, or at the traffic lights at the Welling Way/Rochester Way Junction at about 10.15.
The bats should be out of hibernation now, feeling very hungry after the long winter, and trying to make up ground on their feeding schedule which will have been delayed by the poor weather. Usually the females will form maternity colonies in May before giving birth to a single pup during June.
Recent bat walks in the area, such as those at Shrewsbury Park and Woodlands Farm have also spotted hedgehogs as they looked for bats, so if you get a place on the walk keep a look out.
The Friends plan to hold another bat walk later in the year, so if you don’t get a place on this one there will be a further opportunity later on.
Hello. Where in oxleas woods can you find the bats
They’ve been seen in various places, but aren’t always in the same place. They’re quite often detected and seen in the meadow below Castlewood, down towards Crookston Road, and have been seen in the Castlewood rose garden. There are a couple of clearings in Jack Wood where they’ve been seen and detected – on one bat walk there were a lot just down the path between Jack Wood and Castle Wood. Often they are found hunting over the council compost off Crown Woods Lane. They’ve also been detected in clearings and along path ways in Oxleas Woods.
I guess the bats mostly go where their insect food is, or to breeding sites in the autumn.
It means that it can be a bit of pot luck how many, if any, are seen on a bat walk.