Locals are being asked to sign up to the Bats in Backyards project

After a successful pilot last year, the project - being delivered by the NSW Government Saving our Species program in partnership with NSW Department of Primary Industries and Western Sydney University - is once again calling on citizen scientists to help survey insect-eating bats by recording bat calls over a period of 3 to 5 days from October 2023 to March 2024.

Volunteer farmers, city dwellers, anyone with the smallest area of outside space are needed in Armidale, Narrabri, Wellington, Western Sydney and Pillar Valley and will be supplied with a bat detector to pick up the high frequency echolocation calls from bats flying high overhead.

There are 34 species of insect-eating bats in NSW; 18 of which are listed as threatened.

Bats can eat up to their own body weight in insects such as moths, cockroaches, and mosquitoes every single night, and are therefore a great natural bug-controller.

Direct predation by bats on agricultural pests is worth $63.6 million annually to the cotton industry.

Participants will receive a personalised report detailing each bat species detected, their preferred habitat and food sources, as well as recommendations for their protection and conservation.

Saving our Species Senior Threatened Species Officer, Dr Joanna Haddock, said the 2022 Bats in Backyards pilot project was extremely successful.

"A staggering 95,000 bat calls were recorded from 100 participants in the pilot program last year," Dr Haddock said.

"Twenty different species of bat, including seven threatened species, were identified during the pilot. The most recorded species was the Gould's wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldii), while the little pied bat (Chalinolobus picatus) was the least commonly recorded.

"Bats have been portrayed historically as villains, but they are in fact our friends, as voracious predators of insect pests - eating mosquitos, biting midges and crop pests by the billions."

Dr Haddock said there is still much to discover about these elusive native mammals.

"So we are asking landowners to volunteer to find out which species are flying over their properties each night - that way we can better understand their distributions and preferred habitats and know where to focus our conservation efforts," she said.

To find out more and register your interest in the Bats in Backyards project visit https://savingourspecies.online/bats

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