Go batty and have a great night out
Have you experienced the magic out walking through a wood at dusk and coming across a bat as it darts around the twilight sky in search of its supper?
The South Gloucestershire Council's Wild Roots and Wildways Projects have developed 4 award winning Bat Audio Trails across South Gloucestershire, enabling local people to discover and find out about bats and other wildlife on their doorstep.
Four Bat Audio trails have been created at the following sites:
• Avon Valley Woodlands Local Nature Reserve, Hanham
• Warmley Forest Park, Warmley
• Wick Golden Valley Local Nature reserve, Wick
• Willsbridge Valley Local Nature reserve, Willsbridge
The trails have been developed by the Council Environmental Projects team in partnership with Avon Bat Group, the South Gloucestershire Disability Action Group, the Bat Conservation Trust, Avon Wildlife Trust, the Breakthrough project and Kayto Sound.
Trail packs, including bat detectors and information are available from local libraries with information about the route, bats you are likely to see and a brief history of the site. The general information guide for all 4 trails is available to download from this website. See link on the right hand side.
There is an accompanying audio CD guide disc for each trail in the library packs which guide visitors around each trail with further information about the wildlife, history and bat species likely to be found. The CD audio guide enables the trails to be accessible for the Visually Impaired and the library information pack and site way mark posts contain information in Braille.
Each walk takes about an hour to complete and ranges from three-quarters of a mile to nearly one-and-a-half miles in length. The routes follow a specially waymarked trail around each site which has a glow in the dark and Braille disk to help you find your way around at dusk.
The trails have been funded thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Big Lottery Fund and the Access to Nature Fund which is managed by Natural England.
Contact:
naturalenvironment@southglos.gov.uk Tel 01454 86 3592