The coordination of any marking activities with specific rings designed for bats carried out by members of the association is carried out via the Ringing Commission, which also acts as the endorser for this type of work in Spain as required by the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Environments.
The scientific ringing of bats allows for the collation of large quantities of information about the longevity and distribution and migratory movements of the marked individuals. Nevertheless, unlike what happens with birds, the handling and marking of bats is a very delicate task as it can cause great disturbance and stress to specimens of some species due to damage during handling and later due to the rejection of the placed ring. Moreover, most bat species are very scarce and listed under the highest protection categories in the various regional red lists of threatened fauna. For this reason the ringing of bats should only be carried out by experienced and authorised personnel. Training in this practice should always be conducted within an established work group where one can obtain the necessary experience in order to work independently if required.
Due to the presence of rabies viruses in several bat populations, rabies vaccinations prior to any handling of bats is absolutely necessary.
Any questions or queries can be directed to us using the form below or via the Ringing Commission’s email address:
The deadline for completion of all paperwork relating to bat ringing is the 31st January each year.
– Instructions on how to complete and send the relevant forms for bat ringing:
Instructions on how to complete and send the relevant forms for bat ringing. Year 2018
Injuries caused by bat ringing. The Ringing Commission is collating data in order to assess possible injuries caused by the metal rings and for this reason they are requesting ringers to complete the relevant field in ringing database for 2018 (linked below), whenever a recapture is made, using the codes that appear in the following document on injuries caused by bat rining. The codes are available in PDF format and include photo examples in each case.
– Ringing forms.
Annual report on retained bat rings for 2018