LBG funded three Motus Tags (radio transmitters) in Spring 2024, and a further two in 2025, for the use in Bedfont, Stockers & Springwell lakes. The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is an international collaborative research network that uses radio tag receiver stations to track migratory animals. By attaching Motus tags to bats we can track their movements past these receivers along their migratory routes for a few weeks (until the tags fall off or the battery fails), providing new details about their migratory behaviour. The wonders of technology!

Whilst ten newly recorded female Nathusius’ pipistrelles were ringed in the area last year, only two were suitable to be Motus-tagged (ahead of the migration period, and of sufficient weight to carry the tag), which were at Bedfont Lakes. A further female was tagged this year, also at Bedfont Lakes.

The two bats tagged last year were recorded travelling as shown in the images below: one bat (tag 185) travelled to Sandwich Bay in Kent between the 30th April and the 10th May, while the second (tag 186) made it to near Amsterdam between the 10th April and the 16th May (with a likely spurious daytime record in Germany on the Wadden Sea that coincided with the disruptive geomagnetic / solar storms on the 13th May!). The bat tagged this year travelled from Bedfont Lakes to Dunwich Heath in Suffolk in May (tag 323).

These records add to a growing data set that is building a picture of when Nathusius’ pipistrelles are migrating to breed, as well as where and the routes taken to get there.

For information on other projects funded by LBG, as well as how to get in touch if you have ideas for new projects that the bat group could get involved in, please click here.

Photo credits: Stockers lake – E. Little. Maps all taken from motus.org