Bats welcome at Brecon Carreg!

We’re no strangers to a conservation project here at Brecon Carreg, but when The Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru (INCC)  got in touch with us recently with a new project idea, it was something we couldn’t wait to get involved with – bats!

In particular, the project is focussing on helping Lesser and Greater horseshoe bats in the Brecon Beacons. This area has one of the most significant populations of rare horseshoe bats in Europe so we were thrilled to be given the opportunity of installing a bat roost on the land close to the Brecon Carreg source.

The roost, which was built and assembled by a team of volunteers from the Amman Valley MakerSpace, is the first of six to be installed in the Amman Valley to provide shelter for foraging bats. It will also be kitted out with a camera and a bat detector – a device used to detect the presence of bats by converting their high frequency, ultrasonic calls into audible sounds which will allow us to identify what types of bats are hanging out in our new roost. We will be sharing updates as soon as we have them!

The project, which is funded by Brecon Beacons Nature Recovery, doesn’t stop at bat roosts. INCC are also looking to install 100 bat boxes in the Amman Valley and surrounding area. Local tree specialists, John Andrews & Son joined us for the day and installed a number of boxes in the large oak trees surrounding the meadow (don’t try this at home!)

We had a fantastic time working with the team and can’t wait to join them on further projects throughout the summer. Keep an eye on our social media channels for updates.