Marrickville Council installs bat boxes along the Cooks River

– Jacqueline Yetzotis " Recently I came across a bat box high in a tree while riding along the river in the Marrickville Golf Course. I had heard from Council’s Biodiversity Officer that bat boxes had been installed earlier in the year, so it was nice to actually see one.

A paper from the Infrastructure, Planning & Environmental Services Committee Meeting dated 7 May 2013 said –

“Two Goulds Wattled Bats bat boxes have now been installed on Mahoney Reserve & in an adjacent area on the Golf Course along with three Long-eared bat boxes: one installed at the footbridge & two at Dibble Avenue Waterhole. The second summer survey has been completed with microbat calls recorded along the river, but not at Dibble Avenue waterhole.“
It’s great to see Marrickville Council installing bat boxes & recording microbat calls. I hope the bats are happy with their new homes & that more bat boxes are installed along the river & elsewhere in the municipality.

A bit about microbats –
They are also called insectivorous bats because they mostly eat insects making them very useful little creatures.

• Microbats are tiny, weighing from 3g-150g. 
• They are nocturnal, sleeping during the day. 
• They sleep in tree hollows, though these are rare in our municipality, hence the need for bat boxes. They also sleep in caves, in buildings, in rooftops, rock crevices & under bridges – anywhere that offers them protection. I have seen a cluster of microbats sleeping while hanging 1-metre from the ground on the brick wall in my parent’s shaded veranda. A cluster of microbats can fit into the area of a placemat with room to spare. 
• They can travel up to 15-km to find food. 
• Habitat loss & the disturbance of roosting sites are the greatest threat to their survival. 
• Goulds Wattled Bats are not threatened in Australia, though 35 species of Australian microbats are listed as ‘threatened.’ 

Adelaide Bat Care has a short & lovely video of Goulds Wattled Bats in a bat box so you can see what they look like. See –http://www.adelaidebatcare.com.au/video.aspx

For a nice photo of a Goulds Wattled Bat, plus information about Goulds Wattled Bats see – http://bit.ly/19RtpDj "

Bat box in Marrickville Golf Course.

• Marrickville Council installs bat boxes along the Cooks River

About me
Tree loving woman who wants to see the Inner West look as green as the North Shore and believes this is possible.

I believe that:
* tall trees do belong on public streets, not just in parks
* we can have better than the Bottle Brush or similar stumpy varieties
* the tree canopy can be increased
* new tall growing trees will stop being planted under electricity cables
* new tall growing trees will be planted in the open spaces between cables
* tree varieties chosen for new planting will also provide food for birds
* ABC cabling will be used rather than decimate a tree for cables
* any council planning will work to keep current trees
* people will protect public trees, even those not near their homes
* people will view trees as important and vital to their well-being

– Jacqueline Yetzotis