In April 2024, WaCC co-hosted a night walk, through Pooh Corner Bushland Reserve, to search for microbats, in conjunction with Brisbane Catchment Network and Cubberla-Witton Catchments Network. Jutta from the Cubberla-Witton Catchments Network briefed everyone in preparation for the walk.

Anabat Walkabout detectors were used to record the bat calls, but they also pick up other sounds from swarms of insects. The noise from insects makes it more difficult to pick out the sounds of specific bat species but some species were identified.

The good news is that there is a healthy list of bat species that can be found in the Pooh Corner Bushland Reserve:
• Gould’s wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldii)
• Little bent-winged bat (Miniopterus australis)
• Eastern bent-winged bat (Miniopterus orianae oceanensis)
• Yellow-bellied sheath-tailed bat (Saccolaimus flaviventris)

The Anabat Walkabout Detectors are a method of recording bat sounds and is extremely useful to ecological science. In the days following the night walk the bat sounds detected are provided in the form of a screenshot of spectrograms as shown below, which are generated from a selection of the recordings taken on the night walk. The sounds from the bats are then shown and circled in one of the spectrograms as below.

Miniopterus bat call at Pooh Corner Reserve