UES are committed to encouraging our staff to pursue their interests and develop as ecologists, and as members of CIEEM, our staff maintain and develop their skills through Continuing Professional Development. As part of this, Declan and Mark embarked on a research trip to Corfu in October 2019 run by Greena Ecological Consultancy.
The second largest of the Ionian isalnds, Corfu is home to a large number of caves on the island, including sea caves known to support roosting bats. The data collected on the research trip were sent to the Greek Government Conservation data base and contributed to the database on Natura 2000 sites. Declan and Mark gained valuable experience trapping bats and identifying and handling species of bats not found in the UK. They also helped to take DNA samples and sound recordings, and contributed to count data on Greek bats.