This week, BBC’s popular natural history series, Springwatch, is coming from the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate, situated in the Peak District National Park and, on Wednesday 4 June, told the story of a natural success story. Moors for the Future Partnership, alongside Derbyshire Bat Group, have been gathering data which shows that bats have been returning to Kinder Scout encouraged by the restored landscape there. When Springwatch heard about bats travelling such a long distance up the Peak District mountain, a long way from their roost site, they were intrigued and wanted to find out more.
The series – which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year – will be shining a light on the diverse habitats and wildlife of the Peak District, many of which have been restored from their previously degraded condition, thanks to the custodianship of the National Trust.
Since 2019, Moors for the Future Partnership and Derbyshire Bat Group undertook a research study to search for evidence of bats foraging on Kinder Scout, the National Nature Reserve cared for by the National Trust in the Peak District. Ultrasound recording equipment was placed on the mountain plateau over all of the Summer months of 2024 to find out more information about the scale and variety of the bat populations and their hunting behaviour at two high-altitude scientific trial sites – one highly vegetated restored peatland area and one control site which remains in poor condition with expanses of bare peat still present. The whole of the Kinder plateau used to be like this control site – a degraded landscape, its vegetation stripped away by the acid rain of the Industrial Revolution, leaving the bare peat below vulnerable to erosion from rain, wind and wildfire. However, due to a combination of revegetation work – including planting the bog-building plant, sphagnum moss – and blocking the eroded gullies that had scarred the landscape to keep water on the moors, the landscape has been transformed. And this transformation seems to have proved welcoming to wildlife that had for many years become unknown there.
Analysis of that ultrasound recordings from the 2024 trial revealed at least 7 species of bats were present on Kinder Scout during the 64-night survey period. Common pipistrelles were the most frequent visitors, while scarcer species such as Leisler’s bat and even the barbastelle – which is an extremely rare bat in Derbyshire – were also recorded. Patterns of data suggest that almost twice as many bats visited the restored peatland sites densely planted with sphagnum moss as the unrestored site, and spent twice as long there. This includes one evening in August where 100 bat passes were recorded on the vegetated site compared to just 17 on the degraded site.
Data collected over many months suggests that there is a sufficient quantity of insect prey living or breeding on Kinder Scout to sustain the effort taken for the bats to fly up to the site, a good indicator of a healthy and wet blanket bog on an upward trajectory of recovery.
The Derbyshire Bat Group and Moors for the Future Partnership monitored the ultrasonic echolocation calls of bats through the use of bat detectors. The monitors recorded the sound of bats to look for both navigating and feeding on their insect prey to try and work out why they were there. A feeding call gets faster and faster as they home in on their meal, which is known as a feeding buzz.
Moors for the Future Partnership have monitored vegetation on the trial sites of densely planted sphagnum moss on Kinder Scout for the past 15 years but these ultrasonic studies allow a greater understanding of biodiversity and wildlife on the site. Sphagnum moss are bog-building species that holds water on the land for longer and creates new habitats for wildlife. The acoustic data collected reveals information about bat activity on the site, providing valuable information about the importance of connectivity between woodland where they roost and moorland where they appear to be feeding in terms of how far species will commute to catch prey.
To help prepare the ground for the Springwatch team, members of the team from Moors for the Future Partnership and the Peak District National Park Authority spent their free time with an infrared camera on Grindsbrook Clough which links the village of Edale and the Kinder Plateau. The purpose was to see if it might be a route for the bats up to the plateau and to the research trial site, densely planted with sphagnum, where the bats were recorded.
The Kinder plateau bats featured on this year’s Springwatch on Wednesday 4 June. The episode can be found now on iPlayer.
Alan Roe, of Derbyshire Bat Group said:
“I was hopeful that we might find evidence of bats venturing onto Kinder occasionally but I have been astonished by just how regularly they are visiting and foraging on this remote high moorland during the summer months. To have recorded at least seven different species indicates that there is a great variety of insect prey available. It shows just how valuable the work by the Moors for the Future Partnership is, restoring degraded moorland back to a biodiversity hotspot.”
Emma Shaw, Acting Communications Programme Manager at Moors for the Future Partnership said:
“Working in partnership with the National Trust in the Peak District has been a wonderfully fruitful relationship which continues to bring great improvements to this precious peatland habitat. Public engagement is also an important part of what we do and we’re delighted that Springwatch being here will enable many more people to find out about the importance our moorland landscape.”