‘Creatures of the night’ bats under the spotlight at biodiversity seminar

Date Posted: 29 March 2011

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is inviting the community to attend a free public seminar on Creatures of the night - bats at the Casadio Park Hall, Mount Gambier on Wednesday, April 13 and the Naracoorte Caves National Park on Thursday, April 14.

DENR community support officer Becky McCann said this seminar is part of DENR's Autumn Biodiversity Seminar series in the South East region.

"This year is the UN International Year of the Bat, so this talk provides the perfect opportunity for the community to discover more about these mysterious and often misunderstood creatures," Ms McCann said.

"The first talk will take place at the Casadio Park Hall, Mount Gambier on April 13 at 6:30pm, with local native plants available to purchase on the night and light refreshments available.
"The second talk will take place at the Naracoorte Caves National Park on April 14 from 5:45pm. The earlier time allows participants to watch the critically endangered Southern Bentwing Bat fly out of Bat Cave on their way to feed for the night, prior to heading to the amazing venue of Blanche Cave for the talk.

"The Caves Café will be open for light refreshments prior to the fly out, so we encourage people to bring their family and friends and make a night of it."

Ms McCann said guest speaker and local bat and cave enthusiast, Steve Bourne from DENR, will discuss the bat species of the South East region (including our newest residents, the flying foxes) where they live, what they eat, how they navigate in the dark and what you can do to help protect these amazing species.

"They are earth's only flying mammals and are essential to our global environment, contributing to our rich biodiversity and well-being through pollination, seed dispersal and insect control," Mr Bourne said.

"I'll also talk about the nationally vulnerable Grey Headed Flying Fox, who has been an infrequent visitor to the South East for a number of years, but recently overwintered for the first time in the region in 2010."

A guided spotlighting walk will take place on Friday, April 15 at Telford Scrub Conservation Park, 15km north of Mount Gambier. Please note that you must register for the spotlighting night as spaces are limited to 100.

For further information and to register for the guided walk, contact Becky McCann on 8735 1177 or rebecka.mccann@sa.gov.au.