Bat numbers increase as a result of the good cooperation
The former school in Kančevci is among localls known as an former temple of learning, but nowdays it has another important role. The attic and basement of this building are extremely important for the conservation of lesser horseshoe bat in Goričko as the attic is a nursery roost and the basement is use as a summer roost and wintering ground. Since 2019, the only permanent exhibition on bats in Slovenia has been on view in the room where the school teacher once lived with his family.
Nursery group in the attic (photo: G. Domanjko)
Small nursery group of 13 lesser horseshoe bat was discovered in the attic of the former school in 2014. The discovery was bitter-sweet as the old and worn out roof was leaking rainwater and was therefore just a matter of time before the roof would collapse. The building itself and the nursery group were so threatened with destruction. In order to find a long-term solution for the conservation of bats and the building, in 2016, representatives of the Goričko Nature Park Public Institute and the Kančevci Parish met.
The solution and financial resources were later found within the Gorička krajina project, which is financed from the European Regional Development Fund as the Goričko Nature park Public Institute and representives of the parish signed a contract on renovation of the roof by the parish along with their long-term committment on bat conservation in the building. In 2019 Goričko Nature park Public Institute set up the exhibition Living with bats. During this time, the number of female bats in the attic was constantly increasing. From the original 13 bats in 2014, the number of bats increased to 57 females in 2020. Among them, about 2/3 also give birth to pups each year.
Brother Jurij sweeps up the guano (photo: G. Domanjko)
A higher number of bats usually also means more guano. And since the cooperation between Goričko Nature park Public Institute and the Kančevci Parish has always been excellent, we agreed to clean-up guano together in early November 2020. In doing so, we made sure that the fifty bats, roosting and preparing for the hibernation in the basement, were not disturbed too much.
