At the beginning of the month the bat licence trainees joined me for two days of bats. We started day 1 by surveying some trees. The woodland provided both some shade from the heat and a great opportunity to practise the use of endoscopes. Given the hot summer we have had, I was curious to see how our bats are coping. We inspected some low-level tree roosts and very quickly we found some bats. We usually find individual bats, however this time we encountered several groups of brown long-eared bats: 8 in one of the trees! If you need to keep cool in the 30oC+ temperatures, low down in a woodland is clearly a good bet.
As day 1 one came to a close, we headed to Longleat to try and catch some bats. As well as a fantastic sunset and slightly unnerving sounds of howling wolves, we were treated to some great bats. Alongside pipistrelles, brown long-eared, Daubenton’s, Natterer’s and Bechstein’s made an appearance.
After the late night before, we had a casual 2pm start on day 2. The day kicked off by checking some bat boxes. We crossed our fingers and hoped that the species we wanted would turn up and sure enough it did. The bat boxes at this site regularly host a male Leisler’s bat. A smaller relative of the noctule bat, this species is infrequently encountered in England.
Later on, we headed to Blagdon Lake in the hope of catching a summer visitor. Nathusius’ pipistrelle migrates great distances across Europe, with the current record standing at over 2,000km (Russia to England). After a slow start, I adjusted the acoustic lure volume and, hey presto, two Nathusius’ pipistrelles arrived in the traps. Slightly larger than its two cousins, this bat has a broader wing, fur on the tail membrane and furry penis.
