Bats are having a ball at Temuka

JOHN BISSET/Timaru Herald

BAT MAN: Department of Conservation ranger Dave Anderson on the Opihi River bank yesterday with a bat receiver.

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TEMUKA residents who thought they were going bats seeing the native land mammal flying past, may not be so silly after all.

Long-tailed bats caught by the Department of Conservation (DOC) at Hanging Rock recently have been tracked to Arowhenua and a small breeding colony has been found thriving along the banks of the Opihi River.

According to DOC ranger Dave Anderson, this is the first solid evidence the department has of bats breeding so close to Temuka.

The Hanging Rock bats are the only population on the South Island's east coast.

"It's a real highlight," he said.

"Temuka people have bats on their backdoor and they are obviously feeding around the town, if not in it."

People who thought they had seen bats in Temuka in the past may just be right, he said.

Over summer DOC carried out a mark-recapture analysis of the Collett Road sub-population of bats at Hanging Rock.

As in the year before, the number of bats caught were insufficient to carry out statistical analysis to predict population trends.

However, the fact that only 35 bats were captured did not bode well for the future. Of these - nine were males and 26 females. Of these five were recaptures and 30 new bandings were made.

"We need more female recaptures to be able to make predictions on population trends."

In the 2006-07 year DOC attributed the lack of bats captured as possibly due to the weather.

Mr Anderson agreed with ecological consultant Marieke Lettink's 2006 report that concluded the long-tailed bat population was falling at an unsustainable rate.

"If we do not halt this trend, the worst case scenario predicted is extinction within 25 years."

Bat recovery volunteer Innes Stager said the loss of suitable trees as roosting habitat was a major obstacle the bats faced.

In 2004 there were 100 bat boxes placed near roosting sites. After being wary of the boxes it appears the bats are now using them.

"Another delightful surprise is that the boxes have become biodiversity hotspots, with tree weta, geckos and riflemen all using them for homemaking," she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News