Bats.

Dale.

Dale.

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Dale.
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Crikey just been out the garden with the dogster. Lots of midges but also, lots of bats. We've had the odd one over the years but tonight, seems like 10+, what's going on?

I'm presuming they are Pipistrelles. I wouldn't have a clue how to photograph them apart from hitting them with flash, which I won't do.

I'll just enjoy them for now. (y)

Anybody else got bats?

:)
 
We have them flying along the back of the houses where I live.
The best I've managed to do is set up a video camera pointing along their usual route and leave it running just as it's starting to get dark. I had it on a tripod a bit low down so it picks them out against the sky.
Never had any luck with a dslr, just got a few blurry shapes.
No flash of course.
 
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We have bats in the garden every year, sometimes they fly past our heads and we can hear their wing beats, what we haven't seen this year or last, is hedgehogs,. We used to have them in our garden for twenty years before the latest dearth, we even rescued one and brought it up during the summer after it had been found out in daylight when it was tiny. We released it weighing 600 grams and we like to think a hedgehog we saw the following year, being followed by three or four hoglets, was OUR hedgehog.

I don't know where our bats live, presumably in some trees somewhere, certainly not in our loft (we had rats in there earlier this year and that was bad enough, at least they could be legally killed). We don't see as many midges, or indeed, insects in general, as we used to and perhaps it's just modern aerodynamics, but not that many hit the windscreen anymore.

It has been said that humans have wiped out 60% of animal populations since the 1970's (see Grauniad for some very depressing reading), so every bat, every hedgehog, every wasp or ant I see in our garden is a little heart-warming although I could do with fewer aphids sucking the sap from my cherry trees -- oh ladybirds, wherefore art thou when I need you? Probably also heading for extinction.
 
(Some) Bats fly on regular routes when foraging, so you can wait for it to come back round.

Check local legislation - in some countries you can use flash, but it is illegal in others.
 
We have a few bats locally, I've caught a couple just before sunset, it was a case of picking a spot they fly up'n'down just before sunset and setting focus near a marker point, I normally use a branch that arches over a lane, when they approach the point just fire a quick burst and cross your fingers :LOL:

High SS, High f's and High ISO's !!!

I refuse to use flash on wildlife, night critters don't need 'nukes' going off while their going about thier thing. Others may disagree but that's my view :)
 
I spent a few minutes ( read, almost 1 hour) with our bats last night. They do seem to fly erratically at first but a flightpath started to emerge that they mostly stuck to. It was still fairly random but it seemed to be one big loop, with devations, which I pressume were to catch flying insects.

It now makes sense too, what the small, nest type boxes are at the park top of our street. These boxes have slots in the bottom so they must be bat boxes. I had thought that the bats we've had over the years could be 'roosting' in our loft, or a neigbour's but being fairly new build houses, the soffits are sealed but have gridded vents, nothing is going to get in there. I'm not too sad about that as our loft is floored for storage and I wouldn't want the mess.

I'm just going to enjoy these for now, they appear as it's starting to get dark, so about 10pm just now. I think I counted 8 last night.
 
There are bats of varying sizes near me and sometimes they come in the house, juveniles I think - open the window and they leave but it can be a bit of a shock for us, and there are a few funny stories :). I know we have Pipistrelles plus larger ones, and we found a dead Brown Long Eared one. I have a photo, but I'm not sure anyone wants to see a dead bat. They are amazing little creatures.

Only last week I let out an audible gasp as I thought one was going to fly into my mouth as I walked home in the dark :LOL: I hadn't realised I walked with my mouth open!

We've also found them in the water butt, hit by cars and caught by the cat - rescued and released after rehab with the local bat man where possible.
I've never tried to photograph them, but I enjoy seeing them.
 
Bebop said:
... and caught by the cat
Click to expand...
Forgive me if this is inappropriate but that reminds me of the scene from Terry Pratchett's "Witches Abroad", wherein the local vampire, in bat form, encounters Greebo: "Many vampires have risen from the dead but none have ever risen from the cat!" :coat:

The bat you mention was much luckier!
 
There were at least 5 bats last night (10/06/23). I think the heavy humid, pre storm air was forcing the flies down and also, more of them, which brought the bats in to the garden. The bats had a feast.

When I say the bats were flying inches from my head, I'm not kidding.
 
Bit late to the party but..............
Do you guys have all my bats? :D
I'm not seeing as many as I usually do where I am, although from my notes I had a bit of a lull around this time last year as well. The difference being last April/May was good weather and there were lots of bats around. This April/May we were still in winter.
This time of year (June and the early part of July) the female pipistrelles will be in maternity roosts with their little ones and if you're lucky enough to have one near you they'll come flooding out to feed through the night. They sometimes roost in my roof (they get either in the cavity where maybe the insulation hasn't fully filled or between the tiles and the membrane. They don't get into the loft) and when they do I've counted nearly 80 leaving at dark. Otherwise they'll sit anywhere that suits them during the day, maybe in a building but often in a tree. I think it's the horseshoe bats congregate in old buildings because they fly around to warm up before emerging. Other species don't do that.
There's a guy in my local bat group who videos them on his phone, then just ups the brightness to make everything more visible. No flashes or other lights please. Bats don't like it and may go elsewhere. Contrary to the saying, bats have good eyesight - just not good enough to home in on something the size of a midge from a distance. Stand still and they'll come very close. I've had two fly straight at my head to do a last minute break worthy of the Red Arrows. I've also heard their wings slap as they do a stall turn to catch something inches over my head. They won't hit you so long as you don't move.
They do fly regular 'beats', just like butterflies do if you've ever stood and watched them.
A heterodyne bat detector is a relatively cheap way to listen to them, especially the pipistrelles. It's addictive. With a full spectrum detector and the patience to analyse the sonograms it's surprising what you'll come across. In my village I've got common pips, soprano pips, something pretending to be a nathusius pip but must be a common pip with a low voice (nath pips are very rare but maybe because they're migratory), myotis (probably natterers), noctules, serotine, possibly leislers but I'm not convinced by that one either, and brown long eared. Nearby I have daubentons (another myotis) on the reservoir, and I've found a barbastelle, another rare one, although it's sometimes difficult to know whether a species is really rare or just under recorded. I am lucky enough to live in Somerset where we get almost every bat species found the Britain. I'm not long back from NW Scotland where it was common pip and nothing else.
For anyone interested the Bat Conservation Trust do occasional introductory Zoom talks (free) and there's lots of useful info on their web site
 
we have them roosting behind our shutters, they also use one of the shutters as a nusery with the mums and young so we leave them well alone - we do sit in the garden at dusk and watch them hunting up and down the garden - oh and I have to sweep up after them in the courtyard under their roost ! Not sure on how many different specie but at least three visibly different sizes so prob 4 or 5 specie.
 
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Jannyfox said:
Bit late to the party but..............
Do you guys have all my bats? :D
I'm not seeing as many as I usually do where I am, although from my notes I had a bit of a lull around this time last year as well. The difference being last April/May was good weather and there were lots of bats around. This April/May we were still in winter.
This time of year (June and the early part of July) the female pipistrelles will be in maternity roosts with their little ones and if you're lucky enough to have one near you they'll come flooding out to feed through the night. They sometimes roost in my roof (they get either in the cavity where maybe the insulation hasn't fully filled or between the tiles and the membrane. They don't get into the loft) and when they do I've counted nearly 80 leaving at dark. Otherwise they'll sit anywhere that suits them during the day, maybe in a building but often in a tree. I think it's the horseshoe bats congregate in old buildings because they fly around to warm up before emerging. Other species don't do that.
There's a guy in my local bat group who videos them on his phone, then just ups the brightness to make everything more visible. No flashes or other lights please. Bats don't like it and may go elsewhere. Contrary to the saying, bats have good eyesight - just not good enough to home in on something the size of a midge from a distance. Stand still and they'll come very close. I've had two fly straight at my head to do a last minute break worthy of the Red Arrows. I've also heard their wings slap as they do a stall turn to catch something inches over my head. They won't hit you so long as you don't move.
They do fly regular 'beats', just like butterflies do if you've ever stood and watched them.
A heterodyne bat detector is a relatively cheap way to listen to them, especially the pipistrelles. It's addictive. With a full spectrum detector and the patience to analyse the sonograms it's surprising what you'll come across. In my village I've got common pips, soprano pips, something pretending to be a nathusius pip but must be a common pip with a low voice (nath pips are very rare but maybe because they're migratory), myotis (probably natterers), noctules, serotine, possibly leislers but I'm not convinced by that one either, and brown long eared. Nearby I have daubentons (another myotis) on the reservoir, and I've found a barbastelle, another rare one, although it's sometimes difficult to know whether a species is really rare or just under recorded. I am lucky enough to live in Somerset where we get almost every bat species found the Britain. I'm not long back from NW Scotland where it was common pip and nothing else.
For anyone interested the Bat Conservation Trust do occasional introductory Zoom talks (free) and there's lots of useful info on their web site
Click to expand...

That's fascinating, thank you for posting that.

We are SW Scotland (ish) so probably only pipistrelle here too, although I'm not up on bats, so could be wrong.
 
Dale. said:
That's fascinating, thank you for posting that.

We are SW Scotland (ish) so probably only pipistrelle here too, although I'm not up on bats, so could be wrong.
Click to expand...

You will get some of the others. A few will be at the end of their range where you are. But since pipistrelles account for well over 90% of the bats in Britain, and they're found everywhere except a few of the islands........
A lot depends on habitat and roost sites of course. I always feel I should find daubentons on Loch Maree but so far I haven't
 
Jannyfox said:
Bit late to the party but..............
Do you guys have all my bats? :D
I'm not seeing as many as I usually do where I am, although from my notes I had a bit of a lull around this time last year as well. The difference being last April/May was good weather and there were lots of bats around. This April/May we were still in winter.
This time of year (June and the early part of July) the female pipistrelles will be in maternity roosts with their little ones and if you're lucky enough to have one near you they'll come flooding out to feed through the night. They sometimes roost in my roof (they get either in the cavity where maybe the insulation hasn't fully filled or between the tiles and the membrane. They don't get into the loft) and when they do I've counted nearly 80 leaving at dark. Otherwise they'll sit anywhere that suits them during the day, maybe in a building but often in a tree. I think it's the horseshoe bats congregate in old buildings because they fly around to warm up before emerging. Other species don't do that.
There's a guy in my local bat group who videos them on his phone, then just ups the brightness to make everything more visible. No flashes or other lights please. Bats don't like it and may go elsewhere. Contrary to the saying, bats have good eyesight - just not good enough to home in on something the size of a midge from a distance. Stand still and they'll come very close. I've had two fly straight at my head to do a last minute break worthy of the Red Arrows. I've also heard their wings slap as they do a stall turn to catch something inches over my head. They won't hit you so long as you don't move.
They do fly regular 'beats', just like butterflies do if you've ever stood and watched them.
A heterodyne bat detector is a relatively cheap way to listen to them, especially the pipistrelles. It's addictive. With a full spectrum detector and the patience to analyse the sonograms it's surprising what you'll come across. In my village I've got common pips, soprano pips, something pretending to be a nathusius pip but must be a common pip with a low voice (nath pips are very rare but maybe because they're migratory), myotis (probably natterers), noctules, serotine, possibly leislers but I'm not convinced by that one either, and brown long eared. Nearby I have daubentons (another myotis) on the reservoir, and I've found a barbastelle, another rare one, although it's sometimes difficult to know whether a species is really rare or just under recorded. I am lucky enough to live in Somerset where we get almost every bat species found the Britain. I'm not long back from NW Scotland where it was common pip and nothing else.
For anyone interested the Bat Conservation Trust do occasional introductory Zoom talks (free) and there's lots of useful info on their web site
Click to expand...
Great post. I've often toyed with getting a bat detector, and this encourages me further.
 
We always get bats in the garden and I really enjoy seeing them out at dusk. They did seem to be very late this year, not sure if that is due to the cold or them finding food elsewhere earlier in the year but they are certainly out and about now.
 
I get bats around the house every year. I don’t know where they foots. I’ve put up bat boxes in the pas but they were always ignored.

on photograhing. My security camera picks them up all the time (though useless for images) around the porch where I assume they are catching insects attracted by the lights which can also be seen.

I’m not sure if this constitutes ‘”nterference’“or “baiting” but a light that would attract insects would in effect attract bats and might be useful for getting them in an area to photograph.
 
sphexx said:
I get bats around the house every year. I don’t know where they foots. I’ve put up bat boxes in the pas but they were always ignored.

on photograhing. My security camera picks them up all the time (though useless for images) around the porch where I assume they are catching insects attracted by the lights which can also be seen.

I’m not sure if this constitutes ‘”nterference’“or “baiting” but a light that would attract insects would in effect attract bats and might be useful for getting them in an area to photograph.
Click to expand...

Bats will feed on insects attracted to street lights, but lights can also deter them. So..... if you have lights and the bats are feeding near them the bats are choosing to do so. Adding a light just to attract them so you can photograph them could work, or it could be detrimental to them, so best not done.
 
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