BCT’s bats & lighting page
http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/bats_and_lighting.html
A treasure trove of critically important information for everyone, but especially for Austin’s South Central Waterfront District
Month: March 2016
Bats & Lighting UK Guidelines 2014
http://www.bats.org.uk/data/files/Bats_and_Lighting_-_Overview_of_evidence_and_mitigation_-_2014.pdf
First two paragraphs:
“These guidelines have been drafted in response to a rising number of developments and associated artificial lighting impacting
upon bat populations in the UK. There is increasing evidence of the impacts of artificial lighting on ecosystems and, as nocturnal animals, bats are likely to be impacted negatively. These guidelines are borne out of research undertaken by Emma Stone during her PhD investigating the impacts of street lighting on bats and provide a synthesis of the issues and evidence-based advice of the potential impact of lighting on bats and possible mitigation strategies.”
“These guidelines have been drafted with input from experts in lighting (Institute of Lighting Professionals), bat surveys, ecology and mitigation (Bat Conservation Trust), legislation (Natural England) and bat research and mitigation (University of Bristol) to provide the best current evidence and thinking in the field of mitigation of the impacts of lighting on bats. This document is aimed at ecologists, lighting engineers, architects, planners and ecologists in Local Authorities and Statutory Nature Conservation Organisations such as Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage or Natural Resources Wales.”
Rucker Bat Cave & Fern Cave, early spring
Rucker & Fern early spring 20 MB click link to left for video
Rucker Bat Cave (TX8) in Edwards County Texas is always active this time of year, as Mexican free-tailed bats make their way back into Central Texas. This reflectivity represents many hundreds of thousands of bats. Were happy to see Fern Cave (TX6) in Val Verde County with a large emergence also, we have been seeing fewer bats there than in years past.
