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| Tim Newton from Green Footprint Tree Care installing a bat home |
The bat home programme is well under way with twelve
homes made and four installed to date. We are waiting for funding (an
application has been made) to complete the installation of the other eight. The
cost is in the purchase of the aluminium sheeting that goes around the trunk of
the tree above and below the bat home to prevent the bats being predated on by
rats and the hiring of an arborist. It requires serious tree climbing!
If you wish to view a bat home that’s been installed go
to the end of Odering Place (a new street off Sexton Road). It can be seen from
the roadside up in a pine tree.
The good news is that the 2018 city-wide bat census
recorded one bat in Mangaiti Gully and in the 2019 census two were recorded.
The twelve homes are being installed along 1.6km of gully from Thomas road in
the north down to Wairere Drive in the south. This gives a good spread and
plenty of options for bats to occupy.
This You Tube clip is a great bit of footage of bats
exiting a bat home in Sanford Park, Melville, Hamilton: https://youtu.be/ScIITzi1cDY
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