The Manx Bat Group has been given a grant of £8,600 by the Manx Lottery Trust as part of its community awards for 2019.

Kevin Wells, chair of Manx Bat Group, said: ’The grant is to be used to purchase the latest bat detecting equipment for a new citizen science project, "Bat Search", which we will be launching shortly.

’The aim of the project is to collect data records of bats around the Island in a regular and structured way over the summer months, repeated over the coming years.

’By analysing this data, we can see if the Manx bat population is increasing, decreasing or staying the same. This is very important as bats are considered a key indicator species in some aspects of biodiversity.’

Mr Wells added that the new project had been made possible thanks to the grant, which allowed the group to buy the latest detectors, which are very simple to use.

They record bat calls and their location using inbuilt GPS.

As part of the Bat Search project, the Manx Bat Group wants to recruit volunteers.

’After computer analysis of the recordings, we will be able to identify which species were recorded and plot them on a map,’ Mr Wells said.

’The Manx Bat Group would like to say a huge thank you to the Manx Lottery Trust for their generosity in helping this project become a reality.’