Flittermice

[Toddy]

I've been whistling for the bats as they hunt for moths along the tree line along the garden and the burn. They sort of vere in mid air and circle round about ten foot above my head.
Brilliant little things. There's no shortage of fluttery things for them, some of the moths are as big as the butterflies. Ghosts and Hawks and the like.
Will these little flittermice take something as big as that though?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[JonnyP]

I've been whistling for the bats as they hunt for moths along the tree line along the garden and the burn. They sort of vere in mid air and circle round about ten foot above my head.
Brilliant little things. There's no shortage of fluttery things for them, some of the moths are as big as the butterflies. Ghosts and Hawks and the like.
Will these little flittermice take something as big as that though?

cheers,
Toddy

They sure will....I saw a bat take a large moth called an 'old lady' once, they are quite big moths and it surprised me to see the bat take it....Great to watch them fly, isn't it...

 

[Toddy]

Cheers Jon
One of my friend's has recently done the bat handling course; I hadn't realised just how protected they were until then. I don't fancy them in the house but I do like seeing them around.

Toddy

 

[British Red]

We have them in the house Toody. They ate the wasps nest in the loft! We love our little flittermice (we call em that too). Ours are long ears - lovely to watch them using the lane like a bat motorway

 

[Toddy]

Useful little things, aren't they? and if they take out the wasps then they have to be more use than squirrels in the loft
I reckon these ones are pipistrelles. I think the flittermice are more common southwards than up here; I do know we don't get as much of a variety of species anyway.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Stew]

They sure will....I saw a bat take a large moth called an 'old lady' once, they are quite big moths and it surprised me to see the bat take it....Great to watch them fly, isn't it...

Blimey Jon. I'm amazed you can see them do anything. I often see them flapping around but they're so fast it's hard to tell anything, other than they're flapping!!

 

[John Fenna]

We have Pipistrels as well!
The strange thing is they roost in the modern extension of our old Welsh cottage - in the cavity wall/under the slates! They used to roost in the loft but I guess it is too cobwebby now. Please ensure all boxes in your loft are closed - we found several skeletons of baby Pips in an otherwise empty Tea-chest where infants fluttering around had fallen in and could not get out or be rescued.
I tend to leave our backdoor open to allow the dog to roam in and out and several times I have been joined in the living room by a bat wanting to watch soap operas (you have to be bats to want to watch soaps) and some have found it difficult to find the way out again....or they like my company.
Once our neigbour went to get a clean Terry nappy for her infant , from the airing cupboard, only to find it already in use - a baby Pip tucked up inside it! Warm furry - mama!
I love it when the Pips are in residence and you can always tell when they return by the droppings on the windowsills!
John

 

[Pipistrelle]

it is kinda a pet topic of mine, a Pip will eat 3000 midges, gnats and misquitoes a night, Pips are the smallest and commonest british species (of which we have 17, if you invclude the nearly nationally extinct mouse eared).

It is common for pups to go looking for a heat source as mums leave them behind sometimes and use a more successful feeding roost nearby but coming back to feed baby. If the pup gets cold (as it will have little fur at this point) it goes looking for mum or and airing cupboards, back of a gas fires, lampshades, picture over a radiator etc etc.

i have been rescuing bats for 10 years now and am always surprised where they turn up.... the weirdest one was inside a knicker draw containing more than one adult impliment much to the mortification of the young lady concerned who was too terrified of the bat to remove them. She chilled out eventually when i unfortunately in mid explanation whilst untangling said bat from lacey dental floss undies said " it was looking for somewhere dark and warm, thats why it got into your pants". ..erm ah.... "drawer" i hastenly added with much figiting and embarrassment . :tapedshut

 

[JonnyP]

Blimey Jon. I'm amazed you can see them do anything. I often see them flapping around but they're so fast it's hard to tell anything, other than they're flapping!!

Hi Stew....This happened next to a moth trap we were running last year, because the moths are attracted to the traps, so the bats come looking for the moths too. The 'old lady' moth is easy to see and it almost went into the trap but then turned away, thats when the bat got it.....

 

[xylaria]

it is kinda a pet topic of mine, a Pip will eat 3000 midges, gnats and misquitoes a nightt

If you put bat boxes around lakes would that really help keep the midges down?

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

They fly around auchinstarry quarry, great to watch them munch midges after topping out on a rock route late evening at/after sunset.

Nick

 

[British Red]

Please ensure all boxes in your loft are closed - we found several skeletons of baby Pips in an otherwise empty Tea-chest where infants fluttering around had fallen in and could not get out or be rescued.John

On a sad note, please ensure that the ceiling rose on you loft light is also screwed up otherwise eventually a small bat will roost with a foot on each terminal. Bats do not make good insulators

Red

 

[demographic]

On a sad note, please ensure that the ceiling rose on you loft light is also screwed up otherwise eventually a small bat will roost with a foot on each terminal. Bats do not make good insulators

Red

I know I shouldn't but that creased me up.

We get a lot of bats at work and some of the buildings had to be left till they had finished hibernating before we could demolish them.
We also put up batboxes in the trees.