Durham Bat Group
Registered Charity No. 1170672
Trustees’ Annual Report 2021
enquiries@durhambats.co.uk
Durham Bat Group Trustees
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Trustee Name Committee Position Dates serving as a
trustee in 2021
Claire Dewson Chair 01/01/2021 –
31/12/2021
Clare Rawcliffe Treasurer 01/01/2021 –
Trainer 31/12/2021
David Sowerbutts Recorder 01/01/2021 –
20/10/2021
Tony Purcell Asset Manager 01/01/2021 –
31/12/2021
Alistair Lockett Communications 01/01/2021 –
Officer 20/10/2021
Membership
Coordinator
Gwynevere Kipling Bat Care Coordinator 01/01/2021 –
31/12/2021
Barry Anderson Secretary 01/01/2021 –
31/12/2021
Jodie Morgan Events Coordinator 01/01/2021 –
31/12/2021
Melissa Young Recorder 20/10/2021 –
31/12/2021
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Trustees
The Trustees have acted with due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit with respect to Durham Bat Group’s charitable activity, and in particular to Public Benefit Guides PB1, PB2 and PB3. This report is prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102).
Signed on behalf of the Trustees:
Clare Rawcliffe
Governing Document
The constitution of Durham Bat Group was adopted on 20 October 2016 and is based on the Charity Commission’s model ‘Association’ constitution for Charitable Incorporated Organisations.
The group is further governed by byelaws adopted on 20 February 2018 which define criteria for membership, the structure of the governing committee, and group policies on bat work training, partnerships with other organisations, providing advice to the public, group meetings, data and financial management, and insurance.
Objectives and Activities
The objectives of the Durham Bat Group (DBG) are promotion of the conservation and welfare of bats, primarily within the geographic area between the rivers Tees and Tyne, but also including parts of Durham south of the Tees and excluding parts of Northumberland south of the Tyne. This includes the provision of practical advice and help to any individual or organisation with regard to bats, education of the public about bats by means of public talks, bat walks, talks to school groups etc., and encouragement of community participation in bat related activities. It also includes the study of bats to further understanding of their biology and ecology and working with other organisations sharing similar aims.
Durham Bat Group is the umbrella body for bat workers within its area of activity. It holds indoor meetings during the winter months and field activities at all times of the year but focusing on the main period of bat activity from May to October.
It is the local coordinator for Natural England’s Volunteer Bat Roost Visitor (VBRV) Scheme, whereby licensed VBRV’s respond to enquiries made through the National Bat Helpline run by the Bat Conservation Trust on behalf of Natural England. It therefore helps Natural England to deliver its statutory duty to provide advice to the public regarding interactions with bats, which are protected under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2018 and the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981.
DBG maintains a database of bat records within its area of activity, and provides records, on request, to further the understanding of bats and to ecological consultants carrying out Ecological Impact Assessments. Durham Bat Group carries out searches of its database and produces reports for which a charge is made to commercial organisations. Typically, this charge will be about £25 for a standard 2-km radius search; charges for more wide-ranging searches are subject to negotiation.
The group has a network of bat carers who rehabilitate sick and injured bats found by the public for release back into the wild where possible. Bat carers must receive training from group members experienced in bat care before carrying out any bat rehabilitation independently. DBG works closely with Durham Cathedral to care for grounded bats found regularly
in the Cloisters, primarily in late summer / early autumn. DBG maintains and monitors bat box schemes in the county, undertakes surveys and runs bat walks for the public. It also works with other groups and organisations to provide educational talks and bat walks and benefits the public through bat conservation activities.
Occasional financial donations to bat-related scientific or charitable work by outside individuals or bodies are assessed on their merits and voted on by members during group meetings. Grants may be provided to groups or individuals whose activities are considered to provide added value for bat conservation to those of Durham Bat Group.
The membership of Durham Bat Group stands at 101.
2021 Achievements and Performance
General Indoor Meetings of Members
23/02/2021 – an online talk on ‘Hibernation, Swarming & more…’ was
given by Dave Anderson from North Yorkshire bat group and attended by 26 people.
13/12/2021 – Six DBG Members gathered in the Blue Bell pub in Sunderland to facilitate the annual Christmas card mail out.
2021 Meetings of the Board of Trustees
The Trustees met on 06/01/2021, 28/01/2021, 23/02/2021, 01/04/2021, 13/05/21, 04/08/21, 14/09/21 and 16/11/2021 to facilitate the running of the Group.
2021 Annual General Meeting
The 2021 AGM was held online via zoom on the 20[th] October 2021. The minutes of the 2020 AGM were agreed, as were the 2020 financial report and trustees annual report.
David Sowerbutts and Alistair Lockett stood down as trustees as required by the constitution. Tony Purcell stood down and was re-elected. Melissa Young was appointed as a new trustee.
There followed a presentation by Alan Roe of Derbyshire Bat Group on the Moor Bats Project.
National Bat Helpline Support
There were a total of 163 enquiries from the Durham Bat Group area to the National Bat Helpline run by the Bat Conservation Trust in 2021. Of these:
-
18 were Natural England roost-related enquiries which required a roost visit and were referred to licenced Volunteer Bat Roost Visitors (VBRVs).
-
27 were roost-related enquiries which did not require a visit, and
-
Approx. 118 were bat care related calls (a small number of these are categorised as ‘other’ enquiries)
Training
International guidance advised against any non-necessary handling of bats due to the Covid-19 pandemic to reduce risks to both bats and people. A series of national and regional lockdowns restricted training in 2021.
Opportunities to handle and ID bats were offered to all members with appropriate vaccinations and PPE at the Washington WWT bat box check by C Rawcliffe. Opportunities to participate in bat surveys using detectors were offered to all members at the Ushaw College and North Gare, Hartlepool surveys.
Records
About 400 new records were received during 2021. Nowadays many reports of bats come via Facebook, but the majority of these provide insufficient detail, without further investigation, to be of record status and are not included in the count.
Towards the end of March, David Sowerbutts notified the Trustees of his intention to retire from the post of Recorder, and that he would not accept new data searches after the end of June. Melissa Young was appointed as his successor to manage the data, but not to carry out data searches. A new arrangement was negotiated with ERIC North East by which “All commercial, public, or academic data enquiries...received by DBG will be forwarded to ERIC for response". This arrangement was agreed before the end of the year, but not implemented until July 2022.
The number of data searches carried out was 86, the majority during the first half of the year.
Projects
Durham Cathedral
Jodie Morgan managed the Cathedral’s bat patrol rota which is aimed at collecting and providing first aid to grounded bats during the summer period. As Covid-19 cases were still high, volunteers were advised on appropriate PPE to handle bats and a telephone rota was provided to the Cathedral porters for emergencies. Bat patrols were carried out as normal
by volunteers. Cathedral staff were also trained, during organised sessions, in basic bat care by lead volunteer and Trustee Jodie Morgan, in a safe environment.
A total of 5 volunteers contributed to a daily bat patrols on a rota and a ‘on call’ basis, awaiting a bat rescue call from Durham Cathedral to recover and rehabilitate grounded bats during the annual Common Pipistrelle swarming period in the Cathedral cloister.
Volunteers during 2021 were, Jodie Morgan, Melissa Young, Antonio Barbaro, Mike Wilson and Bridget Black .
This resulted in the recovery of 81 grounded bats in total either by trained members of the Cathedral staff or bat patrol volunteers, of which 59.94% were successfully rehabilitated and released. This is a higher release rate than previous years. There was a 32.44% mortality rate of the total number of bats found. 17% of which were found dead on arrival and 15% died in the care of volunteers.
It is likely that more bats were rescued than in 2020 due to less restrictions regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. This demonstrates the effort put into the bat patrols, finding more bats in total with both parties (DBG and Cathedral staff) working together. It is clear from the data that a higher number of bats are becoming grounded annually. However, more bats were successfully rehabilitated and released in 2021 and Jodie has concluded it is down to more people trained to provide first aid. As a future action, it is desirable to recruit more fully trained bat carers to ensure a higher percent of bats rescued.
Hamsterley Forest
International guidance advised against any non-necessary handling of bats due to the Covid-19 pandemic to reduce risks to both bats and people, therefore no bat box checks were undertaken in 2021.
WWT Washington Bat Box Checks
On 26[th] September 2021, the WWT bat boxes were checked by Clare Rawcliffe, assisted by 6 other Members plus staff and volunteers from the
Wetlands centre. 26 bats were present altogether. All bats identified to species level were soprano pipistrelles.
Bat Flight Cage
The bat flight cage was relocated from the allotment of former Trustee Julia Brown to a site in Marske, due to Darlington County Council categorising bats as livestock, and therefore being unable to be kept on the allotment. The dismantling and re-erection of the flight cage was undertaken by a professional contractor under supervision by members of both Durham and Cleveland Bat Groups. The relocation took place in August 2021. The cost of the flight cage relocation work was £1824.
Other Events / Activities
2[nd] July 2021 – Alistair Lockett organised a bat survey of Ushaw College, Durham in preparation for some events. This was attended by 4 members
4[th] September 2021 – A joint event between Ushaw Historic Chapel and Gardens and Durham Bat Group. A walk and talk, led by DBG member Ian Bond.
12[th] September 2021 – Ian Bond organised a survey of the strandline from North Gare to the Hartlepool Headland, attended by several DBG Members. This was jointly run with the Cleveland Bat Group who undertook a survey on the southern bank of the Tees, by way of comparison, on the same night.
29[th] September 2021 – Clare Rawcliffe gave a bat talk and walk for the WWT Washington Wetlands Centre as part of their events programme.
16 October 2021 – A joint event between Ushaw Historic Chapel and Gardens and Durham Bat Group. A walk and talk, led by DBG member Alistair Lockett and attended by approximately 20-25 people. A great family event which received very good feedback.
Financial Review
2021 2020 2019 Receipts Data searches Donation - bat care Donation talk Income sub Total for year £ 1.525.C £ 3.320.00 2310.00 0.00 0.00 2310.(M) 200.00 £ 1.725.00 £ 3.320.00 Payments Room hire & Refreshments P05taqe Insurance Bat Care Websrte subScri10n Repair of detectors Recorder buttons DNA analysis Bat fliqht caqe (materials and labOUr £ 1,824.00 Donation (Nathusius. Project 30168 23150 390 40 1059.69 130.36 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 £ 105400 100 00 28100 11700 100.00 250 02 £ 1.836.79 0.00 39.00 £ 3A15.00 Expendiiure iothl for ear £ 2,488.49 1811.95 Income wninu$ exPendire 1.WJ.iXI 831.51 498.05 Balance iKought forvrdrd from wewious year £ 23.873.? £ 23.042 21 22544 16 End of year balance £ 22.184.M £ 23.873.72 23042.21 DBG ha$ no restricted funds or eTrdOVd furM15
Charity Name Durham Bat Group
No (if any) 1170672
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date 1/1/2021
Period end date To 12/31/2021
For the period from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total funds funds funds funds
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to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Fees for bat data searches 1,525 - - 1,525
Donations for bat care - - - -
Donations for services - talks & walks 200 - - 200
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
1,725 - - 1,725
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - -
Total receipts 1,725 - - 1,725
A3 Payments
Room hire & refreshments - - - -
Printing, postage and stationary 1,054 - - 1,054
Insurance 100 - - 100
IT related expenditure 117 - - 117
Equipment 1,824 - - 1,824
Bat Care expenses 281 - - 281
General expenses 39 - - 39
Donation to Bat Conservation Trust appeal
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ 3,415 ] - - 3,415
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - -
Total payments 3,415 - - 3,415
Net of receipts/(payments) - 1,690 - - - 1,690
A5 Transfers between funds - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 23,874 - - 23,874
Cash funds this year end 22,184 - - 22,184
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricted | Restricted | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | ||
| B1 Cash funds | Total cash | funds | to nearest £ 22,184 - - 22,184 |
to nearest £ - - - - |
|
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
OK | OK | |||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | ||||
| funds | funds | ||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | Details | to nearest £ - - - - - - |
to nearest £ - - - - - - |
||
| B3 Investment assets | Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) - - - - - |
||
| B4 Assets retained for the | Details 2 x triple bank harp traps |
Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) - |
||
| charity’s own use | 4 x tablets to run acoustic lures 2 x acousric lures 4 x tablets to run acoustic lures 1 x Batlogger Bat detector 4 x Anabat Express bat detector 1 x batbox duet detector (failing) 3 x batbox II detectors (failing) Bat box checks equipment |
- - - - - - - - |
|||
| B5 Liabilities | Details | Fund to which liability relates |
- - - - - Amount due (optional) |
||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Name |
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CC16a
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Last year
to the nearest £ 3,320 - - - - - - - 3,320
3,320
302 - 100 - 1,837 250 - - - 2,489
2,489 831 - - 831
Endowment funds
to nearest £ - - - -
OK
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - Current value (optional)
When due (optional)
Date of approval