Blue Mountains News

Now in its fourth season, the project has already attracted 443 volunteers, captured over 516,000 bat calls, and recorded 24 species – including nine threatened ones such as the Large-eared pied bat, Little bent-winged bat and Greater broad-nosed bat.

But with more than half of NSW’s insect-eating bat species under threat, the need for more eyes – and ears – is urgent.

Volunteers receive a bat detector to record the ultrasonic calls of these tiny night-time hunters.

The data helps scientists track bat populations and shape conservation strategies that could save species from extinction.

The Bats in Backyards project is delivered by the NSW Government’s Saving our Species program, in partnership with the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and Western Sydney University.

If you live in the Blue Mountains City Council areas and have a backyard, you can be part of this exciting initiative. 

No prior experience is needed – just curiosity and a willingness to help.

To sign up or learn more, visit Bats in Backyards.

Senior Threatened Species Officer Alicia Scanlon said “Bats are unsung heroes of our ecosystems, they control pests like mosquitoes and crop-damaging insects, saving the cotton industry alone an estimated $60 million annually in natural pest control.

“Bats make up a quarter of all mammal species in Australia – and they’re the only mammals that can truly fly.

“Most people think of flying-foxes, but they’re just 15 percent of the story. The rest are tiny, insect-eating microbats that quietly go about their work each night.”