Killerton’s rangers have teamed up with Devon Bat Group and Colmer Ecology to set up a special team of bat monitoring volunteers. Their aim is to find out more about which species of bat use Ashclyst forest, part of the large Killerton estate. The team will also monitor bat roosts around Killerton house and parkland, eventually moving onto tenant farms and other buildings which might be inhabited by bat species.
Bats are some of the key species identified in the Land, Outdoors and Nature programme as indicators of a healthy and productive environment. The increased bat monitoring in Ashclyst and around Killerton House will let us find out which bats we have, and monitor the health of their populations.
Over 60 bat boxes had already been put up in Ashclyst forest, but now with extra volunteer power we can monitor them more regularly.