Photo Laura Gravestock
The final bat check of the season took place on Saturday. All 53 boxes were checked and four were found to be occupied, one box had one soprano pipistrele, one had two and a third had three. The “winning” box had fifteen brown long eared bats in it including the one below which had unusually big eyes. It did not squint as it was brought into the light and we did wonder if it had something wrong with its sight
Brown long eared bat Photo Laura Gravestock
Photo Bob Cornes
When we find a bat we process it and then return it to its box. To prevent the bat flying off in the daylight, we stopper the box with some sponge, to give the bat time to settle. We wait 20 minutes before removing the stopper. While Aidan was waiting for the twenty minute to be up , he noticed a crack in a nearby tree. Looking closer he spotted a bat deep in the cavity – too deep to be identified. This is the second tree roost we have found while checking boxes and he first one that has been occupied. This is the final check of the year but we will be back next season.
