Your data on MRCVSonline
The nature of the services provided by Vision Media means that we might obtain certain information about you.
Please read our Data Protection and Privacy Policy for details.

In addition, (with your consent) some parts of our website may store a 'cookie' in your browser for the purposes of
functionality or performance monitoring.
Click here to manage your settings.
EmailIphone Application    Posted: 8th October 2015
If you would like to forward this story on to a friend, simply fill in the form below and click send.
Your friend's email:
Your email:
Your name:
 
 
Send Cancel

Rare bat project receives £700,000 funding
Bat
Greater horseshoes are one of the UK’s biggest bats with a wingspan of almost 40cm.

Lottery boost for Devon Greater Horseshoe Bats

A rare bat project has been awarded over £700,000 of National Lottery funding to help secure the long-term future of one of the rarest animals in northern Europe.

The Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project, led by the conservation charity Devon Wildlife Trust,  received a grant of £707,000 via the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore habitats and protect 11 "priority roosts".

Project manager Ed Parr Ferris told the University of Exeter: “We’re delighted to have gained this generous support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The greater horseshoe bat is a species that has seen its European population crash in the last 100 years, and has disappeared from more than half its British range."

Greater horseshoes are one of the UK’s biggest bats with a wingspan of almost 40cm. Once common across southern England, changes in land-use and a move away from cattle-grazed pastures and hay meadows has led to their loss from much of the countryside.

The project’s ultimate goal is to restore the landscapes that the bats need to travel through and feed in. Working alongside farmers and local communities, it will provide advice and assistance to manage, restore and create the networks of habitats this species needs.

Ed Parr Ferris said: “Cattle-grazed pastures, wildflower-rich meadows, hedges, woodland edges, orchards and streams all play a key part in the bat’s complex lives. They use these landscape features to navigate and travel safely and as hunting grounds to find their favourite prey: moths and beetles.

"The project will work with local farmers and communities to improve and conserve these features. This will be to the benefit not only of greater horseshoe bats but also Devon’s wealth of other wildlife and our treasured landscapes.”

The 11 priority areas are in the Avon Valley, Berry Head, Branscombe, Braunton, Bovey Tracey, Buckfastleigh, Chudleigh, Tamar Vallet, Dartmouth Harbertonford and Southleigh.

Anyone living close to one of the areas and who wishes to help should contact the project’s community engagement officer, Helen Parr on 01392 279244 or by email on hparr@devonwildlifetrust.org.

For more information visit www.devonbatproject.org

Image (C) Wikimedia Commons/Marie Jullion

Become a member or log in to add this story to your CPD history

Cold-water dip to raise funds for Vetlife

News Story 1
 The veterinary mental health charity Vetlife is inviting the veterinary community to join it for a sponsored cold-water dip.

The event will take place at Walpole Bay, Margate, on 17 May during Mental Health Awareness Week. Participants of all abilities can join in the challenge and are advised to bring a towel, a hot drink, a snack, and warm clothes to get changed into afterwards.

Those taking part are being asked to try to raise £100 each to support the work of the charity.

Details about how to take part can be found here. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
Bluetongue low vector period ends

In an update to its bluetongue guidance, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced that the seasonal low vector period for the disease has ended.

With winter over, Defra is planning for a possible increase in cases as midges become more active. It has warned that farms along the east coast of England from Norfolk to Kent, and along the south coast from Kent to Devon, are at highest risk from infected midges blown over from northern Europe.

Since the virus was detected in England in November 2023, there have been 126 confirmed cases. The most recent case to be confirmed was on 1 March 2024.

Farmers are asked to continue to frequently monitor their livestock and ensure their animals and land are registered with the Animal and Plant Health Agency.