News | Latest News | Landscape and lessers: uncovering the secrets of the lesser horseshoe bat – 7pm Thursday 19 August!

The lesser horseshoe bat is Ireland’s most strictly protected bat species, and is restricted to six western counties, from Cork in the south to Mayo in the north. Vincent Wildlife Trust own or lease 12 maternity roosts for the species along its range, which safeguards 33% of the national population. This project focuses on Fiddaun Cottage, a roost that lies on the edge of the karst limestone of the Burren, on the border of Counties Galway and Clare.

We have been researching the colony of approximately 150 bats at Fiddaun Cottage for a number of years to better understand how they use the landscape. Thanks to funding from The Heritage Council and with the involvement of local landowners, we have been using the latest technology to study and maps the lesser horseshoe bat’s relationship with this diverse landscape of pasture, wetlands, hedgerows, stonewalls and woodlands, along which they navigate and feed.

This webinar will give us an insight into the world of these tiny creatures, how they see and use the landscape, and how this technology is ever changing to meet the needs of both the bats and the biologists!