Moon Phase Daubenton’s Survey August, 2010.
A. Fure and J. Wedd

 

During August, 2010 London and Herts. & Middlesex Bat Groups took part in a Moon Phase survey. A total of twenty one people, at eight sites across the region participated in bat counts at open areas around water-bodies during ‘No Moon’ (10.8.10) and the ‘Full Moon’ (24.8.10).

 

Standing at a spot in an open area, participants counted the number of Daubenton’s bat passes obtained using a torch with a red filter or red cellophane. During the full moon phase, an additional note was taken of the amount of cloud cover (0-8 cloud cover with 0 equating to a clear sky). If more than 5/8 cloud cover the results could be skewed.

 

When the number of passes was compared, it was found that (at sites where data was obtained) that the full moon reduced the overall activity by almost 2/3 (63%). Thank you to all participants who were able to gather interesting information from several sites.

 

Table 1: To show the number of Daubenton’s bat passes during different moon phases.

 

Number of Daubenton’s bat passes during ‘No Moon’
10.8.10

Number of Daubenton’s bat passes during the ‘Full Moon’
24.8.10

Oakmere Lake, Potters Bar
3 stations

83

31

 

273

103

 

370

187

Pen Ponds, Richmond
3 stations

260

0

 

60

0

 

160

119

Kelsey Park , Beckenham

(9.9.10)

(24.8.10)

 

241

102

Total no of passes

1447

542

 

 

Oakmere Park - Centre TL263012

Location of Oakmere Lake survey

 2009 Google, Map Data © 2009 Tele Atlas

 

 Pen Ponds - TQ190725

Location of Pen Ponds survey

2009 Google, Map Data © 2009 Tele Atlas 

 

Kelsey Park, Beckenham, TQ37676878

Location of Kelsey Park survey

 2009 Google, Map Data © 2009 Tele Atlas

 

Thanks to A. Fure, G. Benson, J. Hatto, M. Wagstaff, B. Sutcliffe, T. Mathias, J. Wedd, H.Makepeace, C. Martin, R. Reynolds, A. Palmer, A. Chipchase, F. Castro, Naomi Vincent, T. Lachhar, N. Pond, J. Cunningham, I. Blatchley, H. Pearce and C. Nash and J. Sitton.