45Khz (1 Viewer)

I've been lent an old batbox III detector. I've not got any instructions so I'm not sure whether I'm using it right. Anyway, I had my moth trap on last night and I could see a bat flying around, chasing moths. Every time it flew over I could hear a series of clicks.
What I don't understand is that I could hear the clicks through a whole range of frequencies from about 22Khz up to about 45khz. The volume seemed to be loudest at 45. How do I interpret this?!
Ken

Ken,

Frequency is not always enough to ID the bat alone, several bats emit at a similar frequencies but they all emit their clicks differently and some degree of interpretation will be required (and it takes a while to learn and I'm not there yet). If you see the bat flying that can also be a useful aid as well as they can be different in size and behaviour and habitat can also be helpful.

Probably not much help.

But from what you have said

Peak near 45Hz
Common Pipistrelle or Daubentons are the most likely

Soprano pip, Natters, Brants and Whiskered are at about 50Hz
and some of the rarer bats also emit around the 45Hz area

some of the experts may be able to help a bit more.

Mark

Hi Ken,

I bought the same piece of kit when it appeared on the market.

We have had Pips flying around here for years and it was due to this box I realised that we had Pipistrellus pipistrellus 45-50kHz and Pipistrellus pygmaeus 50-60kHz.

Hope this helps. I am not an expert.

Regards.
Chris.

Thanks for your replies - it's obviously not straight-forward to ID bats. My impression was of quite a small bat, wingspan not much bigger than my hand, but it's terribly hard to interpret brief glimpses in the glow of a moth trap. It could be seen changing course in response to the movements of the moths, so I'm pretty certain that the moths were its intended prey - if it had been after mosquitoes for example, I think that it would have concentrated its efforts more over our pond.
Ken