Spring is coming meaning that bats are getting to get active again and bats like the Nathusius’ Pipistrelle are starting their migration throughout Europe. The coming of spring also means that bat experts are slowly getting back in the field for acoustic surveys and monitoring of bat fatalities under wind turbines.
Before the next fieldwork season really kicks off, we would like to ask you the following question: did you communicate your data of bat fatalities under wind turbines? If you are not aware yet, the State bird protection observatory of the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment is collecting bat fatalities at wind turbines in Germany and european countries. The last update of the database was made in August 2023, compiling 4058 bat fatalities at wind turbines for Germany and 12597 for Europe. You can download the excel tables of the fatalities at wind turbines for the birds and bats for Europe and Germany (“Deutschland). Several thousands of fatalities sound like a lot but it is nothing in comparison of the 250.000 bat fatalities at wind turbines estimated per year in Germany. It is not even the tip of the iceberg but more like the head of a pin. Several reasons for this discrepancy between the number of the database and the above-mentioned study include the following facts: - many wind turbines are not monitored (anymore) for bat fatalities - carcasses cannot be found in vegetation like forests or are taken away or hidden by predators - many different organisations are doing the monitoring and are not allowed to share the data But one reason for this discrepancy is simply that people who have made discoveries of bat fatalities under wind turbines have not yet been reporting their observations. This is a real pity because discovering bat carcasses under wind turbines is a lot of hard and meticulous work. In comparison, communicating the results is a simple step that helps understand bat biology and conservation issues. These data that are not communicated are unfortunately lost forever for bat conservation and nature conservation more generally. That is the reason why we strongly urge all people with data of bat fatalities at wind turbines to take the time to dive in their hard drives and observation notebooks. There is a simple formular to communicate your observations. If you are not sure how to do it, we can help. If you have problems with the German language, we can help. If you know of people with data, you can share this blog post with them. For more information about this database, you can: - visit the website of the LfU Brandenburg - write an e-mail to Tobias Dürr
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