Finding Bat Evidence- A Daytime Survey
Walk through an interior daytime church survey with Philip Parker (ecological consultant) and two volunteers.
This is designed to show Volunteer Bat Roost Visitors or anyone interested in surveying churches, how to look for bat evidence in a church interior.
Before we begin. This series of short videos focuses on the main church interior for anyone looking for evidence of bats in a church. For those of you doing a detailed survey (for example a survey as a VBRV) please do use the attached checklist from Barry Collins (ecological consultant) as a good resource and consider the additional H&S implications of church surveys (for example the dangers of church bells).
Working With Churches Cheat Sheet
Part 1. Starting the survey
Other resources:
Part 2. Looking for evidence on the floors and pews
Other resources:
Part 3. Looking at the walls
Part 4. Other areas of the church
- Coverings*
- Ledger stones
- Brasses
- Organ pipes
- Kneeler
- Altar
*Phil is an incredibly experienced ecologist. Identifying bats via their droppings can be difficult and we recommend also using other means of verification, such as passive acoustic methods. If you’re interested in learning about the differences in the droppings of different species see the BCT dropping chart
If you do find a bat in the church we would recommend wearing gloves if you need to touch the bat. If you find a bat in need please see the National Bat Helpline for advice.
Part 5. A focus on the roof
End of course