Over 80 random households took part in a bat survey organised by Transition Woodbridge with Dr Mark Bowler, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader in Wildlife, Ecology & Conservation Science from the University of Suffolk. This ran from June through to September 2022. Each month 20 households hosted a post with a bat recorder in a suitable position in their gardens/pots for a fortnight. At the end of the fortnight, Transition Woodbridge volunteers collected up the recorders and passed them onto to Mark. Participants were limited to those who lived between the A12 and Deben River in Woodbridge and Melton. The boundary for Woodbridge was Sandy Lane and Seckford roundabout with A12; Melton the Wilford Bridge and Ufford Park.
Bats feed on insects and roost in hedges and old buildings. They are good indicators of the health of other insect populations as well as telling us about availability of habitat for them.
Mark arranged for his students to analyse each recorder to identify what types of bats there are in each location. The recorders only pick up bat activity (and grasshoppers!), nothing else. Mark gave a feedback presentation on year 1 in June 2023 and a general talk on recording techniques in March 2024. He has continued to speak to local environmental groups as the project has taken off. There continue to be 8 species present in the area including the rare barbastrelle.
We repeated the exercise in Woodbridge and Melton from May to September 2023, 2024, and 2025 adding more houses and Farlingaye High School to plug gaps in coverage. We extended the survey across the river to include the Bromeswell SWT reserve, National Trust Sutton Hoo, and local Sutton residents downstream to Methersgate where the survey joined up with Suffolk Wildlife Trust Martlesham Wilds on the west bank at Martlesham Creek. West of the A12 included six sites in Hasketon, Bredfield and Grundisburgh respectively and Martlesham Wilds and 10 sites in Waldringfield.
In 2025 Mark secured funding from East Suffolk Council Community Partnership for the Woodbridge area for bat detector workshops where residents could make their own bat detectors to attach to their phones and discover for themselves what types of bats they have.