The puppies will have new homes

Western mopek (Barbastrella barbastrellus) is a species of bat under strict protection. It has a characteristic, very dark color. Its habitat is mainly old deciduous stands, where there are many dying and dead trees. For summer hiding places, mops usually choose holes or crevices under protruding patches of bark. They spend the winter in colonies underground.

As part of the project implemented by the landscape park, 80 special slotted boxes were purchased to provide artificial shelter for mops. The lack of old trees and natural hiding places is considered one of the main threats to this species. – The boxes were hung on trees in eight locations selected in consultation with the Elbląg Forest District, including the Bażantarni area and the Kadyny-Przybyłowo-Łęcze forest complex – said Hanna Kruk from the Elbląg Upland Landscape Park. The park also purchased 10 ultrasound recorders, which will be used to monitor the occurrence of bats.

In the Landscape Park, a large wintering site for the bat is located in the basement of the Franciscan monastery in Kadyny, but every year the number of bats hibernating there decreases. The last assessment of the population status of this species took place in 2019 in the Natura 2000 habitat area “Erosion Valleys of the Elbląg Plateau”. She indicated that the state of preservation of the population was poor. It was then assessed that the habitat parameters – including: the number of dying and dead trees – differed from the conditions favorable for the occurrence of this bat.

For the implementation of the western mopka protection project, the Elbląg Upland Landscape Park received nearly PLN 20,000 in subsidies from the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Olsztyn.