The goldcrest Regulus regulus was censused along one to three 2-km transects (a total of 1,118) situated in 993 5km-quadrates (4.5×5km), in Hokkaido from late April to late July, 1976-2016. Based on census results, data recorded in the literatures and personal records of amateur ornithologists, Goldcrests were recorded mainly from the central area to eastern area, occurring in 18.9 % of quadrates in which census or observations were conducted. They occurred mainly in ever-green coniferous and mixed forests with occurrence rates (No. of transects of occurrence/No. of transects censused) of 58.8 and 47.5 % respectively and, mainly in more than 401m in altitudes.

The aim of this study was to compare the abundance of insects between natural forests and larch plantations, and to consider the reasons for lower habitat quality of plantations for the bats. We selected 10 points each in the natural forest and in the larch plantation, and used malaise traps to catch flying insects from June to September 2013. We found that insects were more abundant in plantations than in natural forests, especially those belonging to Diptera and Lepidoptera. These results suggest that the lower habitat quality of plantations for forest-dwelling bats is caused not by prey abundance, but by the other factors, such as low availability of roost trees in the plantations.

Ecological survey of bats around the wooden mountain hut ‘Sarukura-so’ at the foothills of Mt. Shirouma in central Honshu was carried out from June to October in 2016. Eighty-eight bats belonging to six species, an Endo’s pipistrelle (Pipistrellus endoi), Japanese long-eared bats (Plecotus sacrimontis), Asian parti-colored bats (Vespertilio sinensis), a Fraternal Myotis (Myotis frater), the Ikonnikov’s Myotis (Myotis ikonnikovi) and Ussurian tube-nosed bats (Murina ussuriensis) were captured and marked with a metal bat-ring before releasing. Asian parti-colored bats and the Ikonnikov’s Myotis probably formed nursing colonies to give birth and nurse infants at this mountain-hut.

Faunal survey of bats in the upstream area of Tokuyama dam in Gifu Prefecture was carried out on 28-29 July and 16-17 August of 2016. Endo’s pipistrelle, Pipistrellus endoi, and Ussurian tube-nosed bat, Murina ussuriensis were captured and were marked with a metal bat-ring before releasing. The greater horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum and the Japanese little horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus cornutus, were also recorded in an abandoned mine at Kadonyu.