[Scott67]

I posted last year ( Its a whole different world...)
discussing my recently acquired Bat Detector ( Bat MkIIa from Magenta...Bargain!!).

Well Last night was my first attempt this year at Bat ID,

9.00 pm till about 10.00 pm and lots of noise around the 50mhz range,
so I'm assuming its Pipistelles as they seem the most common garden visitors.

Got bombed a few times close to the house by an inquisitve bat,
not sure why, probably insects above my head., and no thats not an indication of my cleanliness !!!

Might try the local park soon to see whats flying around there too...
once the resident cider drinkers have gone home that is !

would definately recommend getting a detector, they're a lot cheaper than you might think.

[Dave Sherry]

Hello Scott,

Funny you should mention Bat Detectors. Until last Sunday evening I didn't have a clue as to what one was! However, that was until I attended a talk organised by the local park warden, John, about bats. It was given by a facinating women called Sally Gillies (I think?). Great talk and slide show. She had two bats with her that she is authorised to keep due to them being previously injured and now unable to fend for themselves. One was a pipistrelle and the other a noctule (sorry if thats spelt wrongly). To my great surprise they were so small they would have both fit inside a match box. Anyway, after the slides and the Q&A session, we went outside armed with bat detectors. To say I was blown away by the experience is an understatement. It was out of this world. So many bats and so often. I think people have no idea about the speed and agility of these tiny flying mammals. Sally told us that the park here is a particularly good spot. It is bounded by a canal at one edge with a dense woody section made up of older and younger deciduous tree which form a sort of amphitheatre with a large pond at the bottom. Ideal for bats. There was a constant stream of clicks in the detectors and I found it difficult to make out the different sorts but I was assured there were more than pipistrelles. It was amazing to hear thebats homing in on a target for the final strike; the way the click speed up towards the end reminded me of someone using a zip quickly.

Needless to say Sally is giving so more talks a other parks local to Preston and if I can get there I will be going.

I took a photo of the pipistrelle that she had and I will post it here shortly, once I've shrunk it to size.

Good luck with the species spotting.

Dave

[Dave Sherry]

Here is a photo of the bat that I took last Sunday. Whilst I have been resizing it I have remembered that this was a noctule, the largest indigenous bat to the UK, and not a pipistrelle (which I didn't get a photo of). The quality is questionable but they are so small and quick it was difficult to get a shot.

Dave

[Scott67]

Dave,

Nice Picture,

Been out again recently but only getting Pipistrelles, we have a large Dam nearby and as water seems a good place to attract Bats I might get lucky with a few different species.

Heres a link to Magnenta electronics and the Bat detector I use, as you can see its REALLY cheap in Kit form, and still very good value ready made.

http://www.magenta2000.co.uk/kits/861.htm

[SteveDimond]

My first post on BirdForum and it's about bats!

I got into batting through birding a few years ago. It was seeing bats flying around at dusk after a long day's birding that piqued my curiosity. Luckily in those days my local bat group (Reading) used to run short evening courses for the general public on bats at Reading University and I signed up for one. I though it was fascinating, and couldn't wait to get a detector.

I now have three detectors of various sorts for various occasions and quite often make recordings on a minidisc recorder for later PC analysis. I find an interest in bats quite useful at the height of summer when it's all quiet on the birding front, as it gives me an incentive to continue visiting the local parks and reserves. It also means I never have a fruitless Nightjar watch!

I like the picture of the Noctule. All bats' fur, but especially Noctules', is just so soft and stroke-able. And Noctules are a wonderful colour.

I'm always fascinated by how different bats and birds are in their "personalities". Whereas birds are generally wary, bats seem to me to be the opposite. They are very inquisitive, and if you stand somewhere in the flight path between their roost and their feeding patch they will often fly very close round and round your head checking you out. I've felt wing beats against my face several times in these circumstances. Bats also show few signs of stress when being handled, which is good news for bat workers (and adds to the cuteness factor). It helps, of course, if you feed them - they are very bribe-able. [Please note: the general public should not handle bats found in the wild without taking some sensible precautions and unless the bat is injured or ill it would be illegal in any case. The Bat Conservation Trust website http://www.bats.org.uk has all the necessary information.]

By the way, the agility of bats in flight is partly due to the fact that they can alter the shape of each wing individually (like human arms). With birds, the wings mirror each other.

Happy batting!

[pete woodall]

Hi Steve

Your warning about NOT picking up bats is particularly true in Australia
where some of our local bats (both the large fruit bats and the smaller micro-
ones) are known to carry some nasty viruses.

In a few cases, bites have proved fatal to humans!



Pete