Bats

[TeeDee]

I've just been sat in the garden at that time of night where everything is outlined in silhouette above ones head.

Been watching the Bats...

Now , I've concluded , with respect - Bats are not the Swallows of the hours of Selene.

Swallows are majestic acrobats and speed demons of the aerial landscape , I love watching them swoop , turn , twist and turn again and whizz off in a different direction like something unworldy from Roswell

Bats. Less so...

If Swallows were runners they would be the wiry graceful under 10 stone marathon runner - they would make movement look like an effortless negotiation with gravity and distance.

Bats in flight looks like the *overweight newbie club runner bumbling along in an erratic stumbling traipse across the night sky...

So , what Bats am I most likely to be looking at ? What is the most prevalent Bat in the UK and is there anything I can do in my garden ( beside Bat boxes and casting slurs towards their flying qualifications ) to encourage them?








* With great respect to any runner regardless of where you start , we have all been there ( some of us still are ) and you are putting the effort in - as long as you are moving , you are competing with the most important person alive.

 

[Pattree]

One of my daughters videoed bats over her garden. She did it in the slowmo mode and was delighted when the chirp was also slowed down and clearly audible.

We used to have swifts around the house. Now THERE is a graceful streamlined bird. They disappeared after the big Foot and Mouth epidemic some twenty years ago when all the barns and outbuildings around here were all sterilised.

 

[Broch]

From our recordings, the most prevalent are pipistrelles (but there are different species of pipistrelles). I have just recorded bat 'voices' from two different woods over a period of a week and the auto analysis cannot be relied on - some species identified are not ever seen in this area - this is professional equipment (over £1,000 per recorder) and software and it is cr*p.

Only a true, licensed, expert could tell you what bats you are seeing, and even then, only with a certain level of confidence

 

[Pattree]

My daughter was just videoing in slomo to see which bat it was. Of course it was a pipistrell. The audio “chirp” was a lovely surprise.

 

[Broch]

But common, soprano, nathusius, or the vagrant kuhl's, or savi's?

 

[Pattree]

No idea

 

[gibson 175]

.

 

[Wander]

Yes, swallows are more graceful, faster, acrobatic.
But sometimes too fast, and too predictable for that speed.
Bats though, like you say, have more of that 'I can't believe I'm flying!' vibe about them. Like those big fat bumblebees improbably wobbling through the air.
And that's why I find them more enjoyable to watch - they hold the eye.

 

[grainweevil]

I was watching the bats over our garden a bit earlier in the year and they seemed pretty agile to me. Don't know what it is about them, but I always end up with a ruddy great big grin on my face every time.

 

[Pattree]

Coincidentally I’ve just written a question to New Scientist - They have a section where readers ask and answer questions.

Why do bats trapped in my sitting room at night ignore the wide open windows. They fly around and across the room and treat the open frame exactly the same way that they do the solid wall opposite.

They even pass through the windows by a few centimetres then flip and come back. We have learned to anticipate such a moment and flick the light on. It seems to startle them beyond whatever virtual or sonic barrier they were experiencing.
No idea whether the question will be published. A number of my answers have been, so we’ll see.

 

[Wander]

It's a bloody good question though!
Get your answers in early, everyone.
I'm going to suggest it has something to do with heat.

 

[TeeDee]

Coincidentally I’ve just written a question to New Scientist - They have a section where readers ask and answer questions.

Why do bats trapped in my sitting room at night ignore the wide open windows. They fly around and across the room and treat the open frame exactly the same way that they do the solid wall opposite.

They even pass through the windows by a few centimetres then flip and come back. We have learned to anticipate such a moment and flick the light on. It seems to startle them beyond whatever virtual or sonic barrier they were experiencing.
No idea whether the question will be published. A number of my answers have been, so we’ll see.

Maybe a good TV show is on??

Serious answer -does Glass 'ping' back at a different rate? maybe clouding the sensor feedback ? Walls and furniture being different?? Who knows not me , only the Bat and possibly Mr B Wayne

 

[TeeDee]

Yes, swallows are more graceful, faster, acrobatic.
But sometimes too fast, and too predictable for that speed.
Bats though, like you say, have more of that 'I can't believe I'm flying!' vibe about them. Like those big fat bumblebees improbably wobbling through the air.
And that's why I find them more enjoyable to watch - they hold the eye.

ok , yes - this - like a child riding a bike for the first time.

 

[Pattree]

@Wander not sure about the heat idea. It can be very ‘ambient’ with all four windows open!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

The bats I see are pretty agile & swift. They whizz around trees & heads with incredible dexterity. Swallows can probably fly faster over open terrain but bats could beat them on an obstacle course.

 

[Pattree]

Agree! In the course of an unruly childhood I have tried to shoot one with a not very impressive air gun. They could avoid the pellet!

 

[cbrdave]

I have just been watching bats in my garden, over the pond, luckily I have a small detector and it says common pipistrelle.
I triggered the pir light and it didn't bother them, it did attract some moths and was amazing to watch,
I may have a go at taking a pic, I like a challenge, I think it's why I prefer wildlife photography rather than still subjects.

 

[ManFriday4]

Why do bats trapped in my sitting room at night ignore the wide open windows. They fly around and across the room and treat the open frame exactly the same way that they do the solid wall opposite.

They even pass through the windows by a few centimetres then flip and come back.

Bats are mostly short sighted. A space suddenly being lot will startle them. Their echo location is super accurate for hunting. If you observe bats hunting then the fly in a circle, oval or within the space they are hunting such as a barn, cave mouth or woodland glade or in more open speces they follow a repetative linear or circuitous route. So a bat flying out of a window and back in again is a normal behaviour. The animal doesn't believe it is trapped.

The bat biologists that i have helped with the annual bat count have software and special microphones to record and identify the bats based on the frequency ranges. It's fascinating seeing the young under the wings of the mothers. Bat counts are the only chance you have of getting close to them with licensed handlers

If you take the time to observed Daubentons bats they fly like swallows over the water as they hunt.