Volunteers in the Tamar Valley have been ‘bat detecting’ in order to protect a threatened species. The Devon Greater Horseshoe bat makes its winter home in the caves and mines of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, using barns in the summer to breed. The hedges, meadows and woods are vital to the bats’ food supply and survival. Now a five-year project aims to help people learn about this ‘nocturnal wonder’. A group of 16 volunteers set out from the Tamar Valley Centre to listen for the bats using specialist equipment. ‘All UK bats use echolocation to find their way around in the dark and to hunt their insect prey,’ said Ed Parr Ferris, project manager with the Greater Devon Horseshoe Bat project. ‘Each species has a slightly different sound – different in frequency and profile – which means we can tell which bat has just flown past even in the dark. ‘We use equipment which translates the calls into our audible range and also slows them down a little to help identification.’ Ed says there was lots of interest in volunteering. ‘We are encouraging people to do a range of things including helping complete bat surveys, creating “batfriendly” schools and communities, and carrying out practical conservation tasks like planting orchards and laying hedges,’ said Ed. To find out more or get in touch, visit www.devonbatproject. org