| Last
year the Directorate for Nature Management made contracts
with the two main NGOs in Norway working on bats to arrange
Bat Nights throughout the country. This being the Norwegian
Yoological Society (NZF) and the Norwegian Chiropterological
Centre (NIFF). At the moment the Directorate has only received
a report from NZF. Thus the following summary is based on
this report.
Bat Nights have also been arranged in previous years, while
in 2001 it was a nationwide coverage for the first time
when at least 15 different cities/places had their own Bat
Night, this includes arrangements by NIFF. The geographic
distribution of the arrangements also included the northernmost
parts of the country. The bulk of the arrangements were
moved to the weekend of 1 September 2001 due to the fact
that the preceding weekend was the date of the Royal wedding
in Norway. However, also other dates earlier than this were
chosen locally.
The Bat Night was promoted through media coverage, posters,
ads and interviews on radio and through a press release.
This resulted i.a. in 19 articles in 15 different newspapers
and in five radio interviews. A separate interview for a
nature programme will also be broadcasted by the national
radio next year. The arrangements involved a number of insitutions
like the Directorate for Nature Management, The Norwegian
Agricultural University, District colleges, Agder Nature
Museum, Ofoten Museum, Tromsø Museum and local groups
of the Norwegian Nature Protection Society.
Economical support from the Directorate was i.a. used to
produce ten packs of slide sets and ten CDs with records
of bats. It has been noted that better financial support
could have increased the capability to advertise and thus
increase the turnout at the different localities.
On six places a slide presentation was presented in addition
to field excursions, while at five places only field excursions
were arranged, and at one place only a slide presentation
was given. NZF regards the number of participants to be
high, with all in all ca. 275 persons attending at the different
places. At all localities bats were seen, and the two most
dominant species were Eptesicus nilsonii and Myotis daubentonii.
At some localities species like Plecotus auritus and Pipistrellus
pipistrellus could also be seen. The report gives further
details from arrangements at each locality.
In the 11 page long report from NZF some points of improvement
are discussed and will be useful for the planning of future
Bat Nights.
Brit Veie-Rosvoll, Head of Section
Øystein Størkersen
Directorate for Nature Management
N - 7485 Trondheim
www.dirnat.no
European Bat Night in Norway a Success
by Leif Gjerde
On 17 - 19 August 2001, the European Bat Night was celebrated
in all parts of Norway by bat walks. Romerike, Oslo, Arendal,
Stavanger, Eid, Trondhjem and Verdal were the locations
in which the trips were held. On Romerike it was also shown
a slide show about bats to the general public. The largest
group was 47 people which included both children and adults.
Information on the European Bat Night was forwarded to
the media, municipalities, universities, libraries a.o.
by a 4 page flier which was printed prior to the celebration
(2000 copies). Also a number of posters were distributed
at various locations.
More information on the results will be available soon
on http://flaggermus.no
Leif Gjerde
Norwegian Chiroptera Information Center (NIFF)
Postboks 247
N - 2001 Lillestrøm
Phone: +47 922 10800
Fax: +47 921 09000
e-mail: niff@flaggermus.no
Back to Archive 2001
|
