28 March 2015 – Mysterious, Mosquito-munching Micro-bats!
Posted on 16 March, 2015 by Connecting Country
Newstead Landcare’s first presentation for the year will be on Saturday 28th March at 3pm by Dr Lindy Lumsden, a wildlife ecologist at Arthur Rylah Institute. The talk will be at the Newstead Community Centre and everyone is welcome to attend (gold coin donation appreciated to help cover our costs). Connecting Country is supporting this educational event.
Little Forest Bat
Lindy has been conducting ecological research on bats for over 30 years. Although based in Victoria, her research has also taken her to remote areas of Australia, such as Christmas Island, and to many countries overseas such as Central and South America, Krakatau, Taiwan, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa and Swaziland.
Lindy Lumsden with Micro-bat
Bats play an important role in controlling insect numbers, including a range of pest species, by eating up to half their body weight in insects in a night. However, due to their small size, nocturnal behaviour and cryptic roosting habits, these valuable animals are rarely seen and are often portrayed negatively in the media.
Lindy is passionate about trying to reverse these negative perceptions and conducts a wide range of extension activities to educate and enthuse people about the bats. In her talks she describes fascinating and little known aspects of the natural history of these nocturnal creatures. As most people do not have the opportunity to see bats close up, she brings along a live bat to show at the end of her talk.
After the talk Lindy will take a group of 35 lucky people to Green Gully to demonstrate how she goes about discovering what bats are in an area. She will be setting up bat traps and using a bat detector and then we will have a picnic meal (bring your own picnic) while waiting for dusk when the bats start getting active. It’s free for Newstead Landcare members, otherwise $15 a head, children free. There are still a few places left so if you are interested contact Frances Cincotta phone 5476 2691 or email <natives@newstead.vicmail.net>
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