I WORK in Bathurst and live in Lithgow, so I also read the Western Advocate, and am aware of your problem of bats infesting Machattie Park and the impact on its use and health issues created by their presence.
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I live adjacent to a school which removed the large gums and replaced them with fruit trees, and I have noticed that the plum trees attract an annual invasion of bats gorging on the ripened fruit.
However, since the local pine plantations have been harvested, displaced birds such as falcons, hawks and eagles have been more visible over Lithgow and the established trees of the crown and national parks around the town precincts.
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A pair of hawks have established a nest in the oak tree of a residence near my home and you can hear the chicks calling, so they are breeding in the residential area.
A number of benefits I have noticed due to their presence (after living in the same house for approximately 32 years) is that the hawks being established here have reduced and nearly eliminated the bat problem.
The dogs don't bark at night, there is fruit being harvested and no faecal matter on the solar panels in the last two years or on the fenceline or grounds of the school side.
Also, I have noticed there are no Indian myna birds and starlings nesting and feeding in my yard.
This may be a solution to your problem: providing a nesting site and re-homing some avian predators in your park, in addition to pigeons in the CBD.
