Rick, a member of the Cornwall Bat Group, says,

“Bats make up nearly a quarter of the species of mammals in the UK but despite this, they are still under-recorded and most of us know very little about them. Using the grant from the Alexanda Recorders Fund, I was able to buy a detector, which I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. This has greatly increased the ease, speed, and accuracy of my recordings and I have also been able to use the visual component of the detector to show members of the public how to differentiate between bat calls.”

“I’d like to give a big thanks to the fund for the help they have given me and to all the other groups and individuals they have supported.”

Rick Payne is a regular contributor to ORKS the Trust’s recording service through which anyone can report sightings of wildlife.

The Alexanda Recorders Fund was set up in 2015 in memory of Walter Alexanda Marsh by his daughter Frances A. Chapman and is available to individuals and small wildlife conservation volunteer groups or charities for projects that will make their research and wildlife records available to the wider wildlife conservation sector.

Frances A. Chapman says,

“Dad and I had been very concerned that people were losing touch with nature while at the same time we had a wonderful resource in recorders, people passionate about nature. The fund was set up to support recorders and to help raise public awareness of the importance of our environment.”

During his lifetime her father Walter Marsh was passionate about wildlife dedicating much of his life to outdoor pursuits. After retirement, he chose to live in Cornwall where he was a keen member of the local wildlife group.

Typical grants made from the fund are up to £100 to individuals and up to £250 to small wildlife conservation groups. For more information www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/alexanda-recorders-fund