Where was we?

Tophill Low is relatively new reserve since 1993 consisting of varied landscape such as woodland that was randomly planted in the 1960's, meadow and wetland. This landscape is nestled between farmland that has been treated with chemicals, acting as a green diverse heaven for residents and migrant species differing in rarity. All information is available including leaflets at.

Bat Business

As a group of 15 we got introduced to Geoff who is an experienced bat handler/carer for the East Yorkshire Bat Group. I learnt about the structure and design of the bat boxes, the ecology of the bats on the reserve. The UK has 18 bat species, at Tophill Low there are 6. I record which bat boxes were checked, the number of individuals present and the sex.

10 bat boxes were checked
21 bats in total consisting of Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) and Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus)
5 confirmed males, 10 females, the other 6 were in brooding chimney boxes which cannot be opened
3 of the boxes had fresh faeces in which suggest there is more bat activity across the reserve.

Image 2: Male Soprano Pipistrelle.

All Coppicing that

Coppicing is a manual process of cutting back vegetation halfway at a 45 degree angle near to the ground leaving a stool. This allows dense regrowth of vegetation to be maintained every 3-5 years.

The site I was working on was initially a cricket pitch in 1970 for the workmen on the water treatment site. Now a flourishing meadow attracting an array of species.
In 1993 a hedgerow of Hazel (Corylus avellane), Field maple (Acer campestre), Crab apple(Malus sylvestris) and Black Hawthorn (Prunnus spinosa) were planted, but over the years it has been neglected. I got stuck in to help Richard and his regularly volunteers in cutting a boundary in which light could reach the floor this meant we had to get our hard hats on and fell some trees!

Why is this conservation important?

Known as biodiversity indicators Bats have both international and National importance. Bats act as pest control, spread seeds to expand areas of vegetation, as well pollinating plants. Bats fundamentally allow other species to complete life cycles while having habitats to live in and food. Bats come into conflict with humans when they roost but we shouldn’t evict them but accommodate them.

Coppicing has been replaced by machinery over recent years, however this practice is solely beneficial to wildlife as it doesn’t destroy prime habitat for food, shelter meanwhile adding diversity. Dormice (Gliridae) are correlated to accommodate coppiced environments as it allows the sun to access the ground, diversifying niches. In the next 5 years Tophill Low are reintroducing dormice into this region, which would be a great success, providing educational opportunities.

How can you get involved?

If you’re an outdoorsy person why not contact Richard the warden about weekly volunteering parties, join the team, gain experience and have fun! If you are craving quiet time why not sit back and survey anything you see to increase the species spotted on the reserve; little contributions go a long way in conservation. Or why not go one step further and become a member of the site and bring the whole family, as there’s plenty of events on throughout the year to offer education.

More Information

Boyd, M. (2019). Tophill Low Nature Reserve. [online] Tophilllow.blogspot.com. Available at: http://tophilllow.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2019].

Buckley, G. (1992). Ecology and Management of Coppice Woodlands. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp.213-232.

Evans, J. (1992). Coppice forestry - an overview. pp.18-27.

Fuller, R. and Warren, M. (1993). Coppiced woodlands. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservantion Committee, pp.5-24.

Medellín, R., Equihua, M. and Amin, M. (2000). Bat Diversity and Abundance as Indicators of Disturbance in Neotropical Rainforests. Conservation Biology, 14(6), pp.1666-1675.

Peterson, M., Birckhead, J., Leong, K., Peterson, M. and Peterson, T. (2010). Rearticulating the myth of human-wildlife conflict. Conservation Letters, 3(2), pp.74-82.

Voigt, C. and Kingston, T. (2016). Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp.427-462.