Bat monitoring took place at three points along the Swansea Canal for one week this summer.

1. Below Coed Gwilym Bridge Clydach.
2. Half a mile north of Coed Gwilym Park in Trebanos, and
3. Below St Peters Church Pontardawe.

Below is an analysis of the results by Steve Lucas of the Bat Conservation Trust:-

‘At last here are the bat records you have been waiting most patiently for.

What I have done is to look at the first nights recordings and identify as far as possible the bats recorded. Where it hasn’t been possible to make a firm identification then that is attributed as a Query or as Myotid spp or Pipistrelle spp. Otherwise it’s down to the species except for Whiskered/Brandts as these two are very hard to separate out.

I have then grouped the records on a half hour basis so what you will see are the number of times a species has been recorded in any half hour period.

Six species of bat were recorded: common pipistrelle, soprano pipistrelle, whiskered/brandt’s, daubenton’s, natterer’s and a noctule. The pipistrelles were by far the most commonly recorded bats with the common pip slightly ahead of the soprano pip.’

BELOW COED GWILYM BRIDGE, CLYDACH

20.30

Common pip 53
Pipistrelle spp 2
Soprano pip 28

21.00

Common pip 14
Whiskered/Brandt’s 3
query 1
Soprano pip 5
21.30

Common pip 1
Pipistrelle spp 1
queery 1
Soprano pip 18

22.00

Common pip 6
Myotid spp 1
Whiskered/Brandt’s 2
Pipistrelle spp 1
Soprano pip 38

22.30

Common pip 7
Whiskered/Brandt’s 2
Pipistrelle spp 1
Soprano pip 49

Common pip 12
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Pipistrelle spp 3
Soprano pip 62

23.30

Common pip 7
Whiskered/Brandt’s 6
Pipistrelle spp 3
Soprano pip 95

00.00

Common pip 7
Whiskered/Brandt’s 16
Soprano pip 82

12.30

Common pip 14
Whiskered/Brandt’s 11
Soprano pip 77

01.00

Common pip 9
Daubenton’s 6
Whiskered/Brandt’s 7
Whiskered/Brandt’s 28
Soprano pip 91

01.30

Common pip 4
Daubenton’s 9
Whiskered/Brandt’s 12
Soprano pip 98

02.00

Common pip 4
Daubenton’s 32
Whiskered/Brandt’s 27
Soprano pip 103

02.30

Common pip 19
Daubenton’s 44
Whiskered/Brandt’s 40
Soprano pip 94

03.00

Common pip 9
Daubenton’s 4
Whiskered/Brandt’s 19
Soprano pip 109

03.30

Common pip 9
Daubenton’s 59
Whiskered/Brandt’s 60
Soprano pip 87
4.00Daubenton’s 63
Whiskered/Brandt’s 58
Soprano pip 100

04.30

Common pip 1
Daubenton’s 12
Whiskered/Brandt’s 10
Soprano pip 108

05.00

Common pip 1
Daubenton’s 2
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Soprano pip 112

05.30

Common pip 3
Soprano pip 28

HALF A MILE NORTH OF COED GWILYM PARK, TREBANOS

20:30

Common pip 54
Soprano pip 65

21:00

Common pip 34
Soprano pip 96

21:30

Daubenton’s 1
Common pip 52
Soprano pip 92
Whiskered/Brandt’s 2
Soprano pip 2

22:00

Daubenton’s 7
Myotid spp 1
Common pip 118
Soprano pip 71
Common pip 1
Whiskered/Brandt’s 6

22:30

Daubenton’s 8
Myotid spp 1
Common pip 103
Soprano pip 113
Common pip 1
Daubenton’s 3
Whiskered/Brandt’s 10
Soprano pip 3
Common pip 120
Soprano pip 112
Common pip 5
Daubenton’s 3
Whiskered/Brandt’s 4
Soprano pip 2

23:30

Common pip 124
Soprano pip 100
Common pip 1
Daubenton’s 1
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Soprano pip 1

00:00

Natterer’s 3
Common pip 125
Soprano pip 96
Common pip 2
Daubenton’s 2
Whiskered/Brandt’s 4
Soprano pip 2

00:30

Natterer’s 1
Myotid spp 1
Common pip 125
Soprano pip 113
Common pip 5
Daubenton’s 3
Whiskered/Brandt’s 4
Soprano pip 5

01:00

Noctule 1
Common pip 118
Soprano pip 113
Common pip 1
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Soprano pip 1

01:30

Common pip 78
Soprano pip 82
Common pip 33
Daubenton’s 3
Whiskered/Brandt’s 3
Whiskered/Brandt’s 2
Soprano pip 31

02:00

Common pip 117
Soprano pip 105

02:30

Common pip 115
Whiskered/Brandt’s 2
Soprano pip 105

03:00

Common pip 113
Daubenton’s 2
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Whiskered/Brandt’s 2
Soprano pip 97

03:30

Common pip 64
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Pipistrelle spp 3
Soprano pip 94

04:00

Common pip 79
Pipistrelle spp 1
Soprano pip 103

04:30

Common pip 115
Daubenton’s 1
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Whiskered/Brandt’s 5
Soprano pip 98

05:00

Common pip 100
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Soprano pip 118

05:30

Soprano pip 71

BELOW ST PETER’S CHURCH, PONTARDAWE

20.30

Common pip 2
Pipistrelle spp 1

21.00

Common pip 1
Soprano pip 35

21.30

Soprano pip 39

22.00

Soprano pip 23

22.30

Common pip 3
Soprano pip 8

Common pip 2
Pipistrelle spp 1

23.30

Soprano pip 1

0.00

Common pip 4
Soprano pip 2

00.30

Common pip 2
Soprano pip 2
Pipistrelle spp 1

01.00

Soprano pip 3

04.00

Whiskered/Brandt’s 1
Whiskered/Brandt’s 1

We now know that we have two more species than we had detected on our recent bat walks. This is tremendous news.  We are very grateful to Steve for involving us in the project and for all his hard work in analysing the results.  He has offered to lead another bat walk next year, and we will post details on here when we have dates.