People on both sides of the Tamar Valley are being encouraged to join in a Devon-based project dedicated to conserving one of the county’s most endangered animals.

This spring and summer, people can take part in a major scientific bat survey run by the Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project.

The survey allows volunteers to borrow a detector from one of 20 monitoring centres dotted around the county, including the Tamar Valley Centre at Drakewalls, to place in a selected 1km grid square for three nights.

All the calls recorded will be used to increase knowledge of how bats are using the landscape, and what can be done to help them.

Anyone can get involved in the survey – no experience is needed and full instructions are supplied.

To find out more about how you can get involved, and to choose a square, you can visit www.devonbatproject.org/devon-bat-survey/

Ruth Testa, who manages the project, said: ‘Knowledge of how bats are using our landscape is key to protecting them.’ 

The Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project is a five-year partnership project of 18 organisations including the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).