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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jos Stratford" data-source="post: 3173998" data-attributes="member: 12449">Holy Smoke, Into the Bat Cave - 21 February.A gash in the landscape, a gaping dark hole disappearing into the hillside, the entrance blocked by a three-metre wall and rough bank. Inside, so a non-wildlife colleague had told me, could be a few animals of interest. So, torch in hand, over the obstacles I clambered, dropping through a small gap into a vast dark interior … cold and snowy outside, cool and damp inside. Edging forward quietly, the critters I was seeking would be hanging from the roof of the cavern, and soon the first were found, little groups of Daubenton’s Bats, fast asleep, some covered in a coating of dew. Odd ones here, a couple here, others huddled into jagged cavities in the roof. A shade smaller, and rather less abundant, Brant’s Bats also hung from the roofs, mostly solitary, but a group of five in one place. Perhaps four hundred metres into the cavern, I thought I had reached the end, the couple of hundred bats that I had seen all belonging to the two species. It was not however the end …on hands and knees, a quick squeeze through a small hole and I was in a small chamber separated from the main cavity. And in here, a treat indeed, in great clusters on the ceiling, gatherings of Pond Bats densely packed. A few hundred in all, this was a fine finale to my subterranean sortie. With that, to minimise my time in the roost, I retreated and returned to the light of day …not just three new species for the year, but the first time I have ever seen any of these three species!Earlier the same day, I had also located the fresh tracks of Badger on my land ...19. Badger (tracks only)20. Brant’s Bat21. Daubenton’s Bat22. Pond Bat </blockquote>

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