Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Monitoring: Greater Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) in the Wye Valley (2005)
The Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Bats Sites Special Area of Conservation (SAC), is considered one of the best areas in the UK for both Greater Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and Lesser Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros). The activity patterns of greater horseshoe bats roosting at Newton Court Stable Block Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) were investigated over a ten-day period during August 2004 in order to ascertain key foraging areas, flight paths and night roosting sites. Ten bats, eight lactating females and two juvenile males, were radio-tagged and followed for the duration of the study period. Greena Ecological Consultancy was commissioned by the Countryside Council for Wales to identify and assess the condition of principal flight routes and key foraging areas used by the colony, in order to develop Performance Indicators. A condition survey of the actual and potential flight lines within 500 m of the Newton Court Stable Block was carried out, a paper map and MapInfo file has been compiled allowing future condition monitoring by the lengths of flight features present.
- Identification
- Extent
- Distribution
- Quality
- Keywords
- Spatial Reference System
- Content
- Constraints
- Maintenance
- Metadata
Identification
- Identifier
- NRW_DS115616
- Alternative Title
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- Monitro ACA: Ystlumod Pedol Mwyaf yn Nyffryn Gwy (2005)
- Metadata Language
- English
- Lineage
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Horseshoe bats from the Newton Court Stable Block were radio tagged and tracked over a 10-day period. Bats were fitted with 0.57 and 0.7g 173 MHz radio transmitters, manufactured by Biotrack of Dorset, with a specified minimum 10-day battery life. All captured bats were weighed, sexed, measured and examined to ascertain breeding condition or whether they were juveniles. Also where bats were ringed numbers were recorded. The two fieldworkers used Australis 26K and Sika receivers with Yaggi rigid aerials to track bats and whip omni-directional antennas to search for bats by vehicle. Accurate bearings of bat locations were taken from hand held sighting compasses. The surveyors also used Duet bat detectors on occasion to confirm the presence of non-tagged greater horseshoe bats by listening for their characteristic echolocation calls. Each time a tagged bat was detected, the following data was recorded: Time or time period, Bat ID number, Bat location bearing/ range of bearings, Initials of surveyor taking a bearing at the same time for triangulation, Surveyor grid reference, Surveyor location description, Signal strength, Comments regarding bat behaviour. Within the confirmed foraging areas habitat categories / features were condition mapped. The condition score indicates many features are present within the precise places bats use and the immediately adjacent habitats. Future condition assessment could then determine if there has been a deterioration in habitat quality (indicated by a reduction in the number of features) or an improvement (shown by an increase in the number of features present). The actual and potential condition areas (with number of feature scores) are included in the habitat maps. Bat count data has been collected for this colony during spring and summer every year since 1991 but additional information was required on habitat and flight corridors around the roost and of the surrounding area.
- Dataset Reference Date (Publication)
- 2005-02-28
Temporal Extent
- Begin date
- 2004-08-04
- End date
- 2004-08-13
- Topic category
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- Biota
Extent
Extent
- Geographic Extent
- SIR FYNWY - MONMOUTHSHIRE
))
Distribution
- Format Type and Description
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Documents
Documents
()
- Specification
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[A] The final report in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF formats. [B] A full set of maps produced in BMP and Microsoft Word Format [C] Flight and roost data in GIS Format
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Documents
Documents
()
Quality
Data quality
- Quality Scope
- Dataset
- Lineage
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Horseshoe bats from the Newton Court Stable Block were radio tagged and tracked over a 10-day period. Bats were fitted with 0.57 and 0.7g 173 MHz radio transmitters, manufactured by Biotrack of Dorset, with a specified minimum 10-day battery life. All captured bats were weighed, sexed, measured and examined to ascertain breeding condition or whether they were juveniles. Also where bats were ringed numbers were recorded. The two fieldworkers used Australis 26K and Sika receivers with Yaggi rigid aerials to track bats and whip omni-directional antennas to search for bats by vehicle. Accurate bearings of bat locations were taken from hand held sighting compasses. The surveyors also used Duet bat detectors on occasion to confirm the presence of non-tagged greater horseshoe bats by listening for their characteristic echolocation calls. Each time a tagged bat was detected, the following data was recorded: Time or time period, Bat ID number, Bat location bearing/ range of bearings, Initials of surveyor taking a bearing at the same time for triangulation, Surveyor grid reference, Surveyor location description, Signal strength, Comments regarding bat behaviour. Within the confirmed foraging areas habitat categories / features were condition mapped. The condition score indicates many features are present within the precise places bats use and the immediately adjacent habitats. Future condition assessment could then determine if there has been a deterioration in habitat quality (indicated by a reduction in the number of features) or an improvement (shown by an increase in the number of features present). The actual and potential condition areas (with number of feature scores) are included in the habitat maps. Bat count data has been collected for this colony during spring and summer every year since 1991 but additional information was required on habitat and flight corridors around the roost and of the surrounding area.
Keywords
Keywords
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2008-06-01
Keywords
- NRW Thesaurus
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- greater horseshoe bats
- rhinolophus ferrumequinum
- Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) - SAC monitoring
- Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) (see also Candidate Special Areas of Conservation cSAC)
- candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC)
- Wye Valley
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-12-31
Spatial Reference System
Content
Content Information
NRW Profile
Custom Elements
- NRW Related Title
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Monitoring (the Welsh colony of) greater horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) in the Wye Valley through radio-tracking and field survey to assess habitat use and condition
Constraints
Constraints
Limitations on Public Access and Use
- Restriction type
- Other restrictions
Access Constraints Directive
- Limitations
- no limitations
Access Constraints Text
- Other constraints
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Part of this dataset is sensitive and restricted. The sensitive data is as follows; detailed locations of bat roosts on private property, locations of underground roost sites, names of roosts which reveal exact or personal addresses. Sensitive data must be kept confidential; general release is not permitted due to risk of harm to the environment or third parties. Sensitive data may only be released under an appropriate NRW Licence. Requests should be referred to NRW's Access to Information Officer. Data may be released freely if the sensitive records are removed in advance, or shown only at a coarser scale.
Use Constraints
- Use constraints type
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
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© CNC/NRW 2005 Recipients may only re-use sensitive data in strict confidence under the terms of an appropriate NRW Licence. No publication or dissemination is permitted, except if sensitive records are removed in advance, or shown only at a coarser scale.
Metadata
Metadata
- File Identifier
- 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313135363136 XML
- Metadata Language
- English
- Parent Identifier
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Condition monitoring of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) in Wales
NRW_DS110194
- Resource type
- Dataset
- Metadata Date
- 2024-05-31T09:22:19.765Z
- Metadata Standard Name
- NRW
- Metadata Standard Version
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1.0