Anyone at home ?

[David Humphries]

It is rare to find bats using any type of pine tree for roosting purposes.The reason is generally felt to be the resin factor.As bats land on the tree their fur will come into contact with the resin.This will then act as a glue to make subsequent movement and flight much more difficult.Equally as we all know trying to remove said resin is not easy using natural means..

 

 

 

that makes a whole heap of sense.

 

Thanks for that Alan

 

 

 

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Edited February 21, 2011 by Monkey-D

[tommer9]

Thanks for that. TBH its pretty much as i thought resin-wise. Especially Radiata!

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

So i wonder who came first, the bats or the hardwoods?

 

Tree dweling bats are nomadic by nature, is this a strategy for exploring new hunting grounds? confined to caves as a permanent residence the disadvantages are clear.

 

so also, has the hardwood deciduos tree enabled the colonisation of new areas and the diversification of species?

 

interesting

[David Humphries]

Hello,

 

Nice to see a bit about bats on the forum. I think you bat in the photo is a noctule not a pip.

 

 

 

Hello again Alan,

 

interested in why you believe the bat in the shot to be a Noctule & not a Common pipistrelle ???

 

Is it based on that fuzzy shot or a putting together of the data including where it was found etc.....?

 

I only ask as an interesting aside for the members who might not be familiar with the two fairly similar species.

 

When this bat took to the air, you could clearly see that it was a small bat.

 

My understanding is that Noctules are much bigger in bulk, and quite different in colour. Brighter more orangy brown to the Pips darker choclatey brown

 

Plus you can make out the dark brown face of the one in the picture fairly clearly, which is a good tell tale indification mark of the Pip.

 

I was about 90% sure it was a Pip at the time, & had it confirmed to me by our inhouse licensed bat handler, who has years of experience with bats & a very good understanding of where our resident populations of the various species at this site, are.

 

 

The first attached shot is the one I took from that Oak.

 

The second one is a shot by Hugh Clark/BCT listed as Common Pip

http://www.bats.org.uk/publications_download.php/212/commonpipistrelle.pdf

 

 

& the last shot is from a wildlife sife off the web, listed as Noctule.

http://www.bats.org.uk/publications_download.php/217/noctule.pdf

 

 

UK Bat Species - Bat Conservation Trust

 

Interested to read your thoughts.

 

regards

 

 

David

 

 

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[bats-n-trees]

David,

 

Thank you for giving me a way out with dignity by suggesting your fussy photo might have mislead me !

 

I could say I did my first post on the subject to see what response there was and what level of expertise there is on the forum .-But that would be a lie.

 

Sitting in my lonely garret browsing the forum I was so overwhelmed to see a picture of a bat that I obviously got too carried away.Having read your latest post I now realise It is wise to be sure of one's facts before posting !!

 

Having just returned from Spec Savers armed with more powerful lenses, cleaned some of the crud off my laptop screen, and adjusted the colour balance and pixel level of the screen I can see that I have made a fool of myself. -Must stop doing this !!!

 

I confess when I first read your early post I thought the bat had emerged from the woodpecker hole and also mentally scaled the bat against this size wise.Your photo is indistinct in terms of many of the more common identification features between the bats.Subsequently you did say that it emerged from behind the bark and was a small bat when it flew away (although pips have quite a big wingspan in relation to their body size ).

 

The photo I posted was definately a noctule and I have attached another photo now of the same bat.As you can see it is resting on the inside of the lid from a schwegler bat box.

 

Please accept my apologies for wasting you and your learned licensed bet worker's time. I am down in London Thursday afternoon/evening.,perhaps we could meet up and I could buy you both a drink as compensation?

 

I would like to answer the other questions you posted but the string is getting very long.Could I suggest we could start a "bat related " section on the forum.I could keep people amused for ages with "facts about bats" although obviously they would need checking for validity !!!!

 

Now off for more liquid refreshment.

[David Humphries]

Please accept my apologies for wasting you and your learned licensed bet worker's time. I am down in London Thursday afternoon/evening.,perhaps we could meet up and I could buy you both a drink as compensation?

 

I would like to answer the other questions you posted but the string is getting very long.Could I suggest we could start a "bat related " section on the forum.I could keep people amused for ages with "facts about bats" although obviously they would need checking for validity !!!! .

 

All good Alan

 

Any debate around bats on this forum is a good thing from my perspective.

 

Until Uk Arbs (responsible ones) are given a little more freedom to manage any Batty issues they come across personally, then any additional experience/advise will always be more than welcome.

 

I'll talk to the site owner around a seperate sub forum for all things furry

 

Pm sent reagrding Thursday

 

regards

 

D

 

 

.

[ben lightfoot]

Hi david hope you dont mind adding a few of my own experiences. I dont have any photos of the tree but it was a beech which broke into two stems about 15ft up and then twisted round each other and i could see no potential hollow for the little fellas. Unfortunately i felled out the bottom section and when the stem hit the ground it split open revealing them about 5 in all i believe and i they all survived although one was touch and go. Work site stopped and waited for appropriate bat handlers (all good fun along and A road with traffic management).

 

[David Humphries]

Great post Ben.

 

The reality of arb & bat interaction.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

 

 

Do you know if they were Noctules ?

 

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Edited February 22, 2011 by Monkey-D

[ben lightfoot]

Not sure how they got on and its going back a few years now although the bat handler felt quite confident they would be fine. I dont believe anything came of it (as in being fined) but the bat handler did say i would have been difficult to identify the hole as there were no tell tale signs although this did make us much more aware for that particular site and for the future to be honest. I would be very interested in a kind or days training/seminar type thing to help identify these habitats a lot better.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

It is clear we need to have a dedicated sticky thread on all things batty, a good few of us have plenty to help others with and i for one would very much like to broaden my knowledge from a field perspective.

 

There is so much to learn about bats within the wooded world, and its a fascinating subject. I will say this though, if you thought arbs was a funny lot, wait till you dip your toes into the batty world!

 

Ive sat in on a hillside by a sessile oak waiting for dusk with a bat detector in hand, with rain starting and then having to get off the hillside in damp weather and total darkness with the valley bottom filling up fast! and nothing will sharpen your senses like falling over a big red deer in the ferns in total blackouts! frightening! Its a peculiar game and youll find your self in very odd places at very strange times of the night, with some interesting but odd people!