Highgate ranger runs bat surveys and popular night walks in North London

Cindy Blaney, a 62-year-old senior ranger at Highgate Wood in North London, conducts an annual bat census and leads nighttime bat walks that sell out months in advance.

Ms. Blaney checks bat boxes for occupants and droppings as part of the survey and uses detectors on walks that convert ultrasonic calls into audible sound. During a daylight inspection she found four bats tucked in a nesting chamber; on walks she tells participants, “It’s like tuning in to another world,” while demonstrating bat biology and debunking fears.

The article notes bats in Britain are among four of 11 mammal species considered at risk, threatened by climate change, habitat loss, artificial light and insect declines. It also says the Covid-19 pandemic worsened bats’ reputation, and that some scientists believe a bat carrying an early coronavirus may have infected another wild animal that was then sold at a market in Wuhan; an earlier coronavirus jumped from bats to other wild mammals and then to humans, the piece adds.

Ms. Blaney uses the census to provide data on how bats are using the protected woodland and whether their population is rising or declining, and she continues to lead walks to educate Londoners and counter misinformation; the article does not report a long-term population trend for Highgate Wood.

Key Topics

Science, Cindy Blaney, Highgate Wood, Bat Conservation Trust, Pipistrelle, Bat Walk