Results of the National Bats In Churches Study Published

We're delighted to let you know that our Bats in Churches paper on the results from the National Bats in Churches Study and the Church Bat Detectives is published in the British Ecological Society’s People & Nature journal on Friday 31st October.

You can read Understanding bats in English churches: a citizen science approach at Understanding Bats in English Churches and there is more information on the Bat Conservation Trust Website

Keep an eye out for coverage of this on BBC Radio, including Radio5Live and the Today programme this morning (Friday 31st) and on their website Bats are seeking sanctuary in churches A great shout out to Phil Parker who so ably organised bats to be present and for permissions from the churches as well as church representatives to be interviewed, and his excellent film and stills of bats at the churches and to Chris Damant for his photos as well.

As many of you know, this survey was lead by our friend and colleague Claire Boothby who would be so happy to see this work finally published. Claire, the lead author of this paper, sadly passed away before its publication. Claire was a dedicated conservationist, influencing others across the UK and beyond. She is greatly missed, but her work and approach to life continues to inspire her fellow authors and former colleagues.

We would like to thank all the volunteers and church representatives who gave their time and made this research possible. We would also like to thank players of the National Lottery as this research was made possible by funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and was carried out as part of a larger Bats in Churches project (www.batsinchurches.org.uk). We would like to thank the project partners (Natural England, the Church of England, Historic England, the Bat Conservation Trust and Churches Conservation Trust) for their commitment and support of this study.