Recording Bats

Records of bats are vital for building a picture of species distribution and abundance in the county, and nationally.

If you see or hear a bat in Gloucestershire, there are many ways to submit your record.

• The easiest way is to use iRecord, an online recording system. This allows you to digitally enter, preview and manage all your wildlife records (multiple species and areas).
• Alternatively you can contact the Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records (GCER) directy to submit a record for the county. Records submitted using iRecord are also accessed by GCER so all important information ends up in a central location.

You do not need to be an expert to provide records and any information is better than none but as a minimum a record needs to contain the following information:

Who? Who recorded it?

What? A bat. Do you know the species?

Where? Minimum 6-figure grid reference and a site description e.g. Rodborough Common/Bathouse Farm.

When? The date the record was made (dd/mm/yy)

Please provide as much information as you can!

NB Personal data provided as part of records is kept securely by GCER in compliance with the Data Protection Act. They are experienced in managing data for sensitive sites or protected species and follow strict procedures to ensure that data sharing does not have a detrimental impact on the environment. If you have any queries about how your records are used please get in touch with GCER.

Commercial Data Requests

Environmental Consultants looking to obtain bat records as part of a desktop study should also contact GCER, not the Gloucestershire Bat Group direct.