The Bat Conservation Trust kindly awarded a PGSF grant to Dumfries & Galloway Bat Group in 2022 to buy 4 Audiomoths, with the purpose of searching for Nathusius’ Pipistrelles at points along the coast between Kirkcudbright and Mersehead.

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Although the Audiomoths were ordered in November so that we had plenty of time to familiarise ourselves with the devices, they were not received until the end of April, due to a shortage of silicone chips. We are grateful to a bat group member who had used Audiomoths before and was able to demonstrate their use. We used Kaleidoscope Lite to analyse our recordings.

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As well as on the coast we sited the Audiomoths at various other sites adjacent to lochs in the Dumfries area. Unfortunately, we did not record any Nathusius’ Pipistrelle, but recorded all the species we would expect in this area – Soprano and Common Pipistrelles, Noctule, Daubenton’s, and myotis species. Some of the recorded myotis are Whiskered and Natterer’s bats. Although we have not located any Nathusius’ Pipistrelles in Dumfries and Galloway so far, we plan to continue with our project.

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We are very impressed with the Audiomoths for recording foraging bats. A recording of a number of bats of the same species may indicate the presence of a nearby roost.