Bat encounter at Pelorus site

Volunteers celebrating a year’s work checking trap lines at Pelorus River were surprised by a close encounter with the tiny, furry creatures they work so hard to protect.

Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve is home to one of the last remaining populations of long-tailed bats, or pekapeka, in the top of the south. The Te Hoiere Bat Recovery Project, a Forest & Bird initiative, aims to protect the bat population discovered there in 2005.

Forest & Bird top of the south regional manager Debs Martin said they tested a new acoustic lure, which plays bat calls, at the annual volunteer barbecue and were surprised to catch two bats in a nearby harp trap.

Martin said they had been trying to catch bats in the area for the past decade in order to gain a better understanding of their movements.

‘‘The most exciting moment was seeing these volunteers, some who have been coming for nearly 10 years to the reserve, actually for the very first time see a couple of bats up close.

‘‘We know where some roost sites are within the river catchment but not at Pelorus and we have always struggled to catch bats there.’’

Both bats were pregnant females, which Martin said indicated there was a breeding colony there.

‘‘It was totally unexpected and it is proof of this new technology. It was fantastic.’’

Chestnut brown with small ears and a long tail, long-tailed bats weigh about 8 to 11 grams and roost in tree hollows and caves.

Last summer, new roosting sites were discovered at Brown River Reserve and Carluke Reserve near Rai Valley as part of the project’s monitoring programme.

The new roosts were about 10 kilometres from where a population had first been identified at Pelorus.

This month, the group received a Department of Conservation Community Fund grant of $18,448 which will go towards predator control to help protect the bats from high rat numbers following a large beech seed fall.

‘‘At the moment, our rat numbers have honestly been sky-rocketing. We had one line where people might catch five or six on a fairly bad week but we have had 40 rats caught on one line so there are loads out there,’’ Martin said.

‘‘It is something beyond the Pale, the kind of rat invasions we are getting.’’

The current trapping network covers 250 hectares and will be extended to the reserves where the new roosting sites have been discovered.

An additional 20 self-resetting traps and use of the toxin diphacinone in bait stations are currently being added to supplement the existing trapping network.

‘‘This money is going to provide some much needed bat protection on those roosts as well.’’ The annual monitoring programme to catch and track bats will begin next month.