News
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March 2026 - SPRING IS HERE - COURSES AND GUIDED WALKS
​Spring has arrived, lots of plants, such as common dog violet, lesser celandine, wood anemone and primrose are starting to flower, frogs and toads are breeding and some butterflies e.g. peacock are on the wing.
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Courses and guided walks that are taking place this spring and summer have been added to the Events page.
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​January 2026 - HAPPY NEW YEAR - TREE PLANTING GRANTS
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Happy New Year everyone. Details of training and guided walks are being added to the Events page as they are announced.
Also, see link below for details of the Trees For Climate grant that is administered by the fantastic Forest of Avon Trust.
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​https://forestofavon.org/grants-to-plant-trees-on-your-land/
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September 2025 - NATIONAL PLANT MONITORING SURVEY (NPMS)
​I have been doing this annual botanical survey since it started in 2015, surveying a wonderful site at Severn Beach near Bristol. The NPMS is a fantastic project that is run by Plantlife and is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. I'd highly recommend it to people who are looking to improve their botanical skills. Here are some photos of species seen during the saltmarsh surveys – sea-lavender, sea-milkwort and sea arrowgrass. See https://www.npms.org.uk/ for further details.
April 2026 - BAT WALKS
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Bats are now becoming active, so look out for them at dusk (and dawn), especially when the weather is warm and dry with light winds. Bats will be more active when there are abundant insects for them to feed on.
Avellana Ecology runs bespoke guided bat walks in spring and summer on request, so do get in touch and we'll see if we can help. We can tailor the walk to your requirements but will include the following:
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life cycle
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behaviour including roosting/foraging/flight patterns
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use of a bat detector – how to identify different species
There are 18 species of bat in the UK, though in many areas the species you are most likely to see are Pipistrelles and Noctules. Daubenton’s bats are also known as Water-bats and are found flying over watercourses. Common pipistrelle by Hugh Clark/BCT, Noctule by Martin Celuch/BCT
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Surveys are usually undertaken at dusk (or dawn) by using a bat detector, which converts their high frequency echolocation calls into sounds that we can hear. You can then ascertain the species heard depending on the call pattern and frequency.
The Bat Conservation Trust provides excellent resources on bats and details how you can get involved with surveys. See:
https://www.bats.org.uk/about-bats
https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/national-bat-monitoring-programme
