While the popularisation of bats through such as bat groups didn’t really take off until the 1980s, observations of bats have been made for decades and even centuries before that. In some cases the bat work methods of earlier generations may seem a little odd from our perspective of the bat detector/ wildlife legislation era, but the records and insights are often still valuable and always interesting. Â
A number of organisations have kindly allowed us to link to their historical publications through their websites. Northern Bats is grateful to the June Holmes of the Natural History Society of Northumbria for access to Transactions; to Christopher Young of Yorkshire Naturalists Union for access to The Naturalist; to Malcolm Birtle for access to The Vasculum and the Cleveland Naturalists Proceedings. We hope over time to provide links to other historical natural history publications across the north of England.
Links to the various publications are given below:
The Vasculum
1918 Vol 4. Nos 3&4 pp 59- 63 (George Bolam) The Whiskered Bat. An addition to the local fauna.
http://www.the-vasculum.com/definitive_vasculum_archive/1918/1918.pdf
1922. Vol 8. No 2. pp43-47 (George Bolam) Natterers’ Bat, Myotis Nattereri (Kuhl). An Addition to the Local Fauna.With Some Observations Upon Other Bats, Chiefly in Relation to the Alston District.
http://www.the-vasculum.com/definitive_vasculum_archive/1922/1922.pdf
1986 Vol 71 No3. Pp 35-37 (N. Jackson & G. Hinchcliffe) Bats in Durham
http://www.the-vasculum.com/definitive_vasculum_archive/1986/1986.pdf
1986 Vol 71 No3. Pp 38-40 (G. Hinchcliffe) Wintering Noctules: the Biometrics of A Colony of Durham Bats
http://www.the-vasculum.com/definitive_vasculum_archive/1986/1986.pdf
2002. Vol 87 No 1. pp 28-31 (J.L. Durkin) The “J.A.” Mammal Articles 1880-Part 1; Insectivores, Bats and Rodents.
http://www.the-vasculum.com/definitive_vasculum_archive/2002/2002.pdf
Cleveland Naturalists Proceedings
1994 Vol 5 Part 4. pp 19-32 (A. A. Wardhaugh) Bats and their roosts in Cleveland
http://barlow.me.uk/clevelandnats/1994.pdf
Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland
1924 Vol 6. Part 1. pp 48-62 G. Bolam. Bats
http://www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/resources/archive/naturalists-of-the-north-east/george-bolam/
G. Bolam Mammal Records of Northumberland (c.1878-1934)
The Naturalist
The previous editions of The Naturalist, dating back to 1865 have been made available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library and can be found following the link below:
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/95438#/summary Over the period from 1882 to 2011, some 77 articles or field notes on bats have appeared in the Naturalist. In order to help navigate to find them, we have produced the attached spreadsheet (link) which lists the date, the issue number (there is often more than one for each year so you may have to scroll through them) and the page number. The spreadsheet also outlines the bat species, the location and the odd
