Natterers Bat radio tagged at Flitwick Moor

Flitwick Moor Photo Jude Hirstwood

Flitwick Moor is one of the most atmospheric sites in Bedfordshire. Walk across the central drain and it is like going back into primeval forest. I would never be surprised if a gigantic dragonfly flew past or a pterodactyl dive bombed from the sky.

The water is iron rich and brick coloured. Many of the trees have their roots immersed in water. I’ve never seen anything like it in this country. Strangely as night falls it becomes an altogether more benevolent place.

Flitwick Moor is a Wildlife Trust site and we have done surveys there before with them. One of our ambitions was to locate the Natterer’s roost which we think is in the wood.

A few years back we caught three Natterer’s in quick succession early in the evening. When we returned, the bats got wind of this and made sure they never came near the net.

We tried again last night and this time we were successful.

A radio tagged Natterer’s bat. Photo Henry Stanier. Wildlife Trust

Last night I am pleased to report was different. A number of nets were set up and those present waited patiently. In the end we only caught one bat – but it was a female Natterer’s which we were able to radiotag .( NB Mistnetting and Radiotagging can only be done with some one who has an appropriate licence for Natural England)

Had it been a male we would not have tagged it as the males are solitary and what we are looking for is the roost

Habitat modelling for bats

For some years now scientists have been studying bat record and correlating them with a range of habitat features. From this they have developing models of where the particular species of bat is likely to be found. This is the work that Lia Gilmour is doing at Bristol university on Bechstein’s bat. We have been helping her look for this bat which has never been recorded in Bedfordshire. So far we have found nothing, but the weather has been dreadful She will be looking at sites in Wales in a few weeks.

Meanwhile a similar computer model has successfully predicted the occurrence of a very rare bat. This grey long eared bat was found in Wales- much to the delight of everyone involved
Orly Razgour the researcher who predicted where the bat would be, shares a lab with Lia Gilmour and we have donated bat droppings to her project from Daubenton.s Natterer’s and brown long eared bats we have caught, for use in comparative DNA studies.
Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18577420

A bad Bat Year

Photo Daniel Hargreaves

The Bat Conservation Trust has just posted the message below on Facebook. So far we have got off lightly in Bedfordshire but friends elsewhere are reporting large scale abandonment of young. In Beds the bats we caught earlier in the season showed little sign of pregnancy, so we think they will give birth later than usual.

We fund our bat care from donations made at talks and events.The Bat Conservation fields calls and passes them on to the relevant bat group. You can check whether the bat you have found is a youngster. ( Adult bats are not THAT big) here 2011-7 What to with a grounded bat

“A bad year for bats? (Please share widely.)
Batworkers are concerned that 2012 will be a difficult year for already struggling UK bat populations. In May 2012, the Bat Conservation Trust’s Bat Helpline (0845 1300 228) saw a 50% increase in calls relating to bat-care, and in June the number of calls about baby bats and bat maternity roosts has declined.
Read more: http://www.bats.org.uk/news.php/157/a_bad_year_for_bats_bat_conservation_trust_appeals_for_donations
The Bat Helpline (0845 1300 228) provides a unique and vital service, and is currently responding to over 100 calls a day. Please show your support and donate today: http://www.bats.org.uk/news.php/157/a_bad_year_for_bats_bat_conservation_trust_appeals_for_donations

Young bat photo Hazel Ryan

This tiny creature is in fact several days old, newborn bats are hairless.

NEw Bat Call Book

 

Great excitement in the bat world this morning as the new book by Jon Russ has finally been published after a very long delay. Thanks to Pelagic Press for coming to the rescue . At first glance it seems well worth the wait, especially as there are now colour illustrations of calls.
Thanks to Jon for giving such clear explanations

Bat Box Checking

As a prelude to the third day of the hunt for the Bechsteins, Bob and Lia headed off to our third wood, which we reckoned was our best bet yet. It was our last so we could get the hang of the technique.

Lia Gilmour shows the site for the harp trap Photo Bob Cornes

Photo Bob Cornes

Brown long eared bat - Photo by Bob Cornes

They combined looking for sites with partial check of the bat boxes there.There were no bats at home last month, so expectations were low. However the first box that was examined had 15 Brown long eareds in, and in all four of the 30 boxes we checked were occupied. This included 2 male and four female brown long eared bats in a 2F box, the first we have have found occupied. Most of the females were obviously pregnant.The one on the above is one of the males

Brown long eared bat Photo Lia Gilmour

Looking for Bechsteins – Day Two

We watched with trepidation as the weather forecast got gloomier and gloomier as the day went on. Bob and Lia went off to have a look at wood 2 and found a couple of good mist netting spots.

The Sherpas take a break. Photo Jude Hirstwood

At 8pm we gathered to take the gentle stroll into the wood – and once again were all too aware of just how much equipment we were lugging.

We set up base camp and while the harp traps were being put up there were numbers of soprano pipistrelles flying overhead. While waiting for the 11pm start time two of the groups walked round the paths with a bat detector. They met up with a group of lads who were camping in the wood. ( Later that night as we were collecting remote detectors they were met again – searching for their tent which they couldn’t find in the dark).

Photo Jude Hirstwood

Lia was keen for us to catch a Natterer’s and we were able to do so for her, which made her a very happy bunny as this picture shows.

Photo Bob Cornes

This was the first time we had ever visited this wood and we were delighted by the fact we caught four Daubenton’s, two in the mist nets and two in the harp trap. This included a very pregnant female who was quickly released and this gentleman who was heavier than the pregnant female was.

Photo Lia Gilmour

Daubenton’s have huge feet which they use to pick insects off the surface of the water. If you look closely you can see the hairs on the feet that help catch their prey.

Photo Lia Gilmour

Another useful diagnostic feature is the ring of bare skin around the eye.







We also caught a couple of soprano pipistrelles who pulled a trick beloved of pipistrelles – if in doubt play dead. We spent a considerable time coaxing them back into life but they did finally fly off just as we were ready to go home.



Sadly no Bechstein’s tonight, but we were delighted to find those Daubenton’s as we don’t often get them in woods and we think that there is a roost nearby . Bob and Lia saw some promising holes on the morning survey. This is a wood we shall be returning to. Who knows we might even catch a Bechstein’s. (without a harp trap or lure, but if you are going to dream, dream big)

Looking for Bechstein’s Day One

Lia Gilmour joined us yesterday with an impressive pile of equipment. She and Bob went out to look for suitable trapping sites in Kings Wood Houghton Conquest. The wood was looking particularly fine

Photo Bob Cornes

While we were there we found a beautiful Light Emperor moth

 As night fell, a small group of people staggered into the wood carrying equipment and set up harp traps , lures and mist nets, then settled down to wait

Photo Bob Cornes

Bill looks like he is bored to death here, but he is daydreaming about owning a Griffin one day.

Photo Bob Corrnes

Brown long eared bat Photo Bob Cornes

Lia took charge of the harp trap

This brown long eared bat was a gentle soul

Photo Bob Cornes Noctule

We also caught this male Noctule who looks very gentle but was a feisty gentleman who really didn’t approve of being caught and was very vocal in his complaints.
No Bechstein’s though – better luck next time.
On examining the recordings we made we can confirm the presence of barbastelle in this wood.

Serotine Roost

Last night fourteen of us headed over to visit the serotine roost. The house owners warned us that they had only seen one bat the night before, so we were resigned not to see many bats.

Photo Jude Hirstwood

We used two long handled nets ( serotines are well known for liking roofs with a high apex) and the team took it in turns to get aching arms.

Photo Jude HIrstwood

Serotines are sneaky beasts and are very skilled at eluding capture. After we caught the first bat, we had to swap nets and they took this split second opportunity to sneak a couple of bats out. They did this every time and after an hour we had caught six bats but nine had escaped and flew victory circuits round the garden before swooping off along a nearby hedgerow.

This roost has been part of a Ph.D. project ( See 2011-10-serotine ringing) and any bats we caught were ringed and had DNA samples taken.We returned to the roost in order to check whether any of the ringed bats had returned. Three of them had. We also took the opportunity to check the rings had not caused any wing damage. There was no sign of any, nor of any scarring left from the wing punches.

Aidan checking wing length Photo Jude Hirstwood

In all nine bats escaped and we caught six.
They were all female and three of them had been ringed previously. One was ringed as a juvenile last year. All the bats were in fine condition, though we did notice that they were lighter than last year , suggesting that this bad weather has had an effect. We also checked wing length. We could detect no sign of pregnancy in any of the bats. In difficult conditions bats can slow down fetal development and this may be what happened.

A delighted Aidan Photo Jude Hirstwood

For many of those present, this was the first time they had seen serotines in the hand, and as a result there were a lot of very happy faces to be seen

Photo Jude Hirstwood

We also took the opportunity of taking some photos. This was not always easy as some of the bats were very squirmy,  but we did get some good photos eventually

Photo Jude Hirstwood

This bat on the other hand was more media friendly and sat still while her photo was taken.

Photo Jude Hirstwood

Looking for Bechsteins

Photo of Bechstein's bat by Derek Smith, Surrrey Bat Group

The Bat Conservation Trust has been running a project to look for Bechstein’s bat. Our neighbour the North Bucks Bat Group found a number of Bechstein’s when they were part of the project. They have since carried on their research into Bechstein’s.

We don’t get them in Bedfordshire.

Now Lia Gilmour is doing an MSc to see whether the data collected by this project can be used too predict Bechstein distribution.

We will be working with her to see if we can find them in some woods in Bedfordshire. We get a loan of a harp trap and an Autobat so we can follow the protocol devised by The Bat Conservation Trust.

We are lucky that some members of the North Bucks group are going to help us out.
We are hoping to do surveys in June. So keep your fingers crossed that the weather will improve, It is unlikely that we will find Bechstein’s but we may find other interesting species and it is well worth the try.

Bat Box Checks

The second of the box checks were undertaken yesterday.

 We found nothing in March and were not expecting much today as it is still quite early in the season for bats to be using boxes. And we were right. The team checked all fifty boxes and no bats were in – though a number of boxes did have bird’s nests in them, and some had bat droppings. This is not unusual and we hope the bats will move in once the birds have raised their broods. Some bat box projects put up bird boxes as well to leave the bat boxes free for bats. In Wytham Wood in Oxford, the reverse happens and bats move into the bird boxes, When we used to check boxes at Whipsnade they were always occupied by blue tits never by bats