Bat Count Cayman is in its sixth year, with Department of Environment staff and volunteers again counting velvety free-tailed bats at bat houses across Grand Cayman.

The 2026 survey runs from 4 June to 31 August and is intended to track use of the island’s bat-house network and build long-term records for conservation management.

The Department of Environment, or DoE, uses the counts to assess the condition of bat houses and estimate colony sizes as part of its wider work on bats and their habitat.

Velvety free-tailed bats feed on insects including moths, flies and mosquitoes.

After completing training, volunteers arrive at a bat house about 30 minutes before sunset and wait for the bats to emerge. They then count bats leaving the roost for 30 minutes from the first emergence, recording the results using a counting app.

Volunteers survey the same bat house on three consecutive nights before submitting their results to the DoE. Repeated counts are intended to improve consistency across sites and from year to year.

The survey period overlaps with the species’ pupping season, which the project says runs from May to November. The DoE says colonies should not be disturbed during this period.

The velvety free-tailed bat is active around dusk and dawn and spends much of the day at rest. That makes the evening surveys relatively accessible to members of the public and allows counts to be carried out without volunteers remaining in the field late at night.

Over the past five years, Bat Count Cayman has recorded 558 surveys at 57 bat houses, involving three DoE staff members, 10 interns and 43 citizen scientists, according to figures supplied by the project.

The DoE said volunteers have allowed the programme to cover more sites and carry out repeated surveys alongside staff and interns.

Participants can also face traffic, mosquitoes and changing weather conditions while completing the evening counts.

The department said training and repeat visits are important to maintaining consistent data and that citizen-science participation has increased the number of observers available for annual and long-term monitoring.

The project team said the programme had brought “joy and hope” to the DoE’s Terrestrial Resources Unit.

Volunteer Nancy Barnard said she joined this year because she wanted to support the department’s work.

“My daughter was home for the summer, and it was a perfect reason to spend an hour with her in peace and quiet, gazing at the glorious sunset and twilight skies while counting the bats,” she said. “We’ve learnt so much through the programme.”

Veteran bat counter Omari Rankine said taking part was one way of contributing to conservation as development continued across the Cayman Islands.

“Our ecosystems are an essential part of Cayman’s identity, and once they are lost, they cannot easily be replaced,” he said. “Participating in the annual bat count is my small way of contributing to the conservation of our wildlife and helping ensure that future generations can enjoy the same natural beauty that we have today.”

The Cayman Islands’ bat-house network was established in 1994 through the National Trust’s Bat House Programme to provide artificial roosting sites. Bat houses remain available for property owners to buy.

The velvety free-tailed bat is the only local bat species known to use the structures.

The Cayman Islands has nine native bat species. Their precise legal status and the date on which current protections took effect should be checked against the National Conservation Act and the latest protected-species schedule before publication.