Foraging, roosting and survival of Natterer's bats, Myotis nattereri, in a commercial coniferous plantation

I studied Natterer's bats in Tentsmuir Forest, a 9143-hectare commercial coniferous plantation on the NE coast of Fife, Scotland that has been planted predominantly with Scots and Corsican pine. Two maternity colonies of approximately 111 & 68 adult females regularly use bat boxes within the forest as summer and maternity roosts. The foraging ecology, roost dynamics, population structure and survival rates of the Natterer's bats present were determined in this study by radio tracking and banding. The two colonies occupied home ranges of 4.43 & 6.46 km with densities of approximately 25 & 10 adult females per km . Individual bats had a mean foraging home range of 0.47 km that contained 1-3 core foraging areas, which did not overlap with the core areas of other individual bats. Adult female Natterer's bats preferentially foraged in stands of mature Corsican pines and around water bodies; grazing meadows and arable land adjacent to the forest were avoided. They also foraged extensively in mature Scots pine, the predominant habitat. However, it was underused relative to its availability. Out of a set of five different bat box types, the bats preferentially chose old square wooden and round wood crete boxes to use as summer and maternity roosts. I found that the bats also roosted in a specific type of natural cavity in double-Ieadered Corsican pines that has not been recorded before. Bats changed roost sites every 2.5 days on average.