Little bent-winged bats back in Berrico

Threatened little bent-winged bats are back roosting after a flood-damaged bridge in Berrico Nature Reserve near Gloucester was successfully repaired.

While planning to upgrade the timber bridge in June last year, a National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) team was pleasantly startled by more than 200 threatened little bent-winged bats found roosting underneath It.

When the bats moved out for the summer, NPWS built a new concrete bridge and, incorporating timber from the old bridge, constructed roost habitats underneath. Another two roosting structures designed by the Saving our Species Program’s bat experts were also placed underneath.

The great news is the work is a success and the bats are back and living their best lives on the bridge in Berrico.

NPWS is committed to installing more bridge and culvert bat habitat structures in Berrico Nature Reserve to support these threatened little bent-winged bats, so the population continues to grow and thrive.

The next phase involves collaborating with bat experts and engineers to manufacture innovative modular-bridge decking with pre-cast bat habitat on the underside tailor-made for these small creatures. This work is relatively new in Australia.

Little bent-winged bats are dark chocolate brown with a body length of around 45mm.

They roost in caves, tunnels, tree hollows, abandoned mines, stormwater drains, culverts, bridges and, sometimes, buildings during the day, then spend the night foraging for insects.

It takes bats an immense amount of energy to fly, so each day they enter a deep sleep called torpor where their metabolism slows right down to conserve energy.

Insect-eating bats play a vital role in controlling pest insects, which helps by reducing the number of disease-carrying mosquitos and helps our farmers by reducing the number of crop pests.

In November people can sign up to the Bats in Backyards citizen since project and receive a bat detector to identify the bats on their property by recording their echolocation calls.

Bat echolocation calls are high frequency sounds produced by bats above the range of human hearing that bounce off objects in the environment and return as echoes that help them navigate and hunt for insect prey in complete darkness.

People are reminded that wildlife can carry diseases that may be harmful to people. Bats should only be handled by trained professionals who are appropriately protected and vaccinated. To learn more visit the NSW Health Be careful around wildlife: protect yourself factsheet.

After recording, our citizen scientists return the device for analysis, and the Bats in Backyards team sends a report with the bat species detected, their preferred habitat and food, and recommended actions for bat conservation on your land.

To learn more visit Bats in Backyards. 

Quotes attributable to NPWS Coralie De Angelis

“It’s a real win for conservation – seeing little bent-winged bats returning to the same location to roost shows that careful habitat design really works.

“These bridges are now serving a double purpose – connecting people and restoring vital homes for threatened bats.

“We are excited the Berrico bats are back and doing well, and that’s good news for both nature and the community.”