Use night vision goggles for bat surveys! Here's why..

Bat surveyors are a vital industry for protecting bats, their habitats and our wider world. Their work also allows important homes and offices to be constructed while protecting the nature that’s so important to all of us.  How do they monitor bats in darkness and what night vision technology do they use?

Bats - why are they so important?

Bats are the only mammals capable of truly flying and make up an impressive 20% of mammal species worldwide. In the UK all the bat species present are so-called “microbats” which are small and mostly feed on insects. Microbats are especially close to our hearts at Nightfox as they use echolocation, which is almost night vision, to maneuver and hunt in their environment.  Bats are vital for maintaining the natural levels and diversity of insect populations as well as being graceful and cute creatures. That’s why bats and their roosts are heavily protected by the law in the UK.

Do I need a bat survey?

Before any development work can be carried out in the UK, the developer should consider if their work is likely to impact bats or their roosts. Bats are present in rural and urban areas and will commute and forage over a wide area. If a bat survey isn't done that can be an obstacle to the project moving forward, so a bat survey is usually a wise investment for getting planning permission.

Night vision for bat surveys

Night vision technology has recently become an indispensable tool for bat ecologists. Bright lighting will disturb and potentially drive away bats, so using night vision cameras is an easy way to make sure that all the bats are seen but not disturbed.

Regulations for bat surveying

The most recent guidelines for bat surveying are strongly supportive of night vision and infrared cameras as best practice tools that improve survey accuracy. 

What type of night vision do you need?

Some bat surveyors will use trail cameras to record and monitor bat populations, more commonly night vision cameras are used. In the last few years Nightfox has begun to work closely with bat ecologists to create night vision cameras that meet their specialist needs. In 2021 we released the Nightfox Red, which became popular with ecologists due to its wide field of view. Since then the Whisker has been launched specifically to meet the needs of bat surveyors which has now been joined by the Nova. 

We've also extended our range by adding accessories such as the XB5-Pro 850nm infrared torch and the Arc infrared floodlight.

What night vision do I need to survey bats?

Our most popular product for bat ecologists is the Nightfox Nova, named by a member of the Infra Red Video for Ecologists Facebook group. The Nova is optimised for the needs of bat surveyors with a wide field of view (55°), optionally increased to 70° with a detachable wide-angle lens, a high-resolution sensor, 60FPS, HDMI out to a remote field monitor, audio in to sync your bat detector audio to the video on the Nova, and HD recording with timestamp. It can also be mounted to a tripod. We’ve even included a 64GB SD card so you can easily get footage onto your computer for analysis and client reports.

What do bat recordings from our night vision cameras look like?

The videos below show real-life footage from bat surveys, captured with the Nightfox Nova, the Whisker and the now-discontinued Red. The darker footage is recorded on a Nightfox red and is of rare Bechstein bats roosting deep underground.

This footage from a Nightfox Whisker shows the wide field of view and the detailed picture. It's able to capture a quick and small appearance of a bat in edge of the frame, it's even able to record the movement of the insects that bats feed on.