I WOULD like to clarify a few points raised in your article a few issues back concerning the discovery of rare bats in the Tamar Valley. This letter is prompted by bewildered members of the public informing me of the recent ?discoveries? being publicised. I have been studying bats in the valley since 1975. The Barbastelle bat (Barbastella barbastellus) has been known to me (and the AONB office) to have existed long before the present-day surveys portraying their discovery. The first known recorded specimen for the AONB (albeit on its border) was in the 1960s from a property at Double Waters. My records start from 1993 to the present date, specimens either being observed roosting, in flight or caught by mist nets and harp traps. Some have been radio-tracked and captured specimens tagged with British Museum rings. A nursery colony does exist within the designated area,with maybe less than 20 other nursery sites within the UK and probably a few more within the Tamar valley and its tributaries. A hibernation site within the valley is probably the country?s best site for hibernating Barbastelle,with five bats being seen on one occasion. Britain has 16 confirmed breeding species of bats; all 16 have been recorded in Devon with 14 of them within the Tamar Valley AONB (not all breeding, with two of them requiring further confirmation). The two nationally rare Horseshoe species,for which Devon is a stronghold, are in my opinion, locally common species within the valley. The AONB office had reason to issue a statement detailing their findings made recently. As for being unique, certainly not! The results are not insignificant though and certainly not unexpected, as every new survey will discover new sites; that is the nature of bats and wildlife in general. The Tamar Valley is certainly a known hot-spot for bats, but let us not fail to remember; new species have not recently been discovered, accuracy must be paramount when publicising findings.
John J Kaczanow Tamar Valley Bat Project