Bat Walk On Vicars' Close, Wells Cathedral

Johns Associates was pleased to be invited to take part in a programme of activities at Wells Cathedral.

Wells Cathedral planned a programme of activities to share information about the Vicars’ Close project. The ‘backdrop’ to this was a temporary exhibition in Number 12 and there were a number of specific activities proposed in an effort to engage and inform both children and adults.

Johns Associates were asked to be involved in this great opportunity where we provided suitable materials that were incorporated into the temporary exhibition such as reptile skins, bat droppings, models showing where bats live in buildings, audio files of bat calls and other urban fauna, video files of bats flying/emerging from buildings. We also provided a family activity focussed on bats, where we took a short walk-up Vicars’ Close to talk about bats and identify the kind of places where bats live followed by a workshop where children and adults could build bat boxes and decorate masks. Finally, Johns were privileged to spend an evening providing bat walks and explain the process and ‘simulate’ the work we do and have done at Vicars Close. During the walk we provided bat detectors to listen out for different types of bats and their movements whilst our project ecologists explained the different species the public could expect to see and hear and their particular habits.