Project achievements in Slovakia

Regular team meetings are a way to talk about where we are in the project, what has already been achieved and what still needs to be done, if and how we need to adjust our activities to achieve our goals, maintain the sustainability of the project’s effects and continue our work in bat conservation. As of today, we know that there is a lot behind, but also a lot still to come in the LIFE project. The details will be the subject of a mid-term report, which we are already working on.

This time we met with our project partners from the oldest and largest bat conservation organisation in Slovakia (Spoločnosť pre ochranu netopierov na Slovensku). Many of the LIFE project activities that SON carries out are focused in the Muránska planina National Park, which is why our meeting was organised here.

The talks, held in the Park’s welcoming education room, were complemented by a field part, during which we got a first-hand look at SON’s activities and the habitats in which they work. We visited several sites important for bat conservation, including the Dielik tunnel, which had been the wintering ground for several thousand individuals, but excessive curiosity on the part of tourists caused them to gradually move out. As part of the project, the water drainage from the tunnel has been blocked, making access to the wintering ground much more difficult and already causing some bats to return to the old accommodation. We also visited the roost of the largest Lesser horseshoe bat colony in the region, in an abandoned stable. Our Slovak partners showed us a hollow discovered thanks to the project, which is inhabited by a summer colony of Bechstein’s bat, one of four known in the country. An interesting best practice in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic is to hang special signs on trees with bat roosts. These indicate that the indicated tree is a bat roost and include a request to protect the site and its surroundings.

The international team is a good forum for sharing experiences and good practices in bat conservation. Together we learn from each other in formal and behind-the-scenes discussions and in workshops dedicated to planning the continuation and dissemination of the project and its learnings. We have prepared the ground for a new project and identified potential sources of support. The project will focus on audience groups that have a significant impact on bats and their conservation.

Let’s return for a moment to the mountain meadows of the Muráň area and look at some interesting natural connections. Can sousliks and donkeys improve the welfare of bats? The souslik is a species of grassland and steppe. As part of its active protection here, open areas are maintained, shrubs are cut, sheep and donkeys have been grazing the grassland. Habitat prepared in this way is good for the greater mouse-eared bat, which likes to hunt in open spaces where the grass is short and it is easy to catch running beetles. In addition, donkeys have been shown to be excellent sentinels when the herd is threatened by wolves or bears. The donkeys then line up and roar in chorus, which depresses the predators and they leave. This behaviour has already led to the employment of ‘donkey herders’ in many countries. In addition, watering holes created for donkeys, e.g. in the form of a small pond, provide opportunities for insects to thrive. It is an additional feeding base and a place where bats can drink water. And amphibians, too, find conditions for spawning in them. As part of the LIFE project, SON is creating small ponds in areas important to bats, regardless of the presence of livestock.