How prevalent are Bats ?

[cousin jack]

I have seen a bat or two flitting about here, yesterday at dusk, this morning 8am, but it is incredibly mild.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Its a big problem for bats out and about at this time of year, not cold enough to keep them asleep, and they come out for a snack but there is little about in winter.

 

They can ill afford to fly around if they cannot replace their fat reserves that are needed to get them through sleepy time.

 

They have to draw a very fine line between excess fat and weight against calories in flight being such small mammals.

 

i do worry about the little flying mice when its as mild as this.

[easy-lift guy]

On the other side of the pond we have 13 different species of bat. Mainly found roosting under low bridges, and in attics of homes and the like. I have had 4 encounters in 20 years and all have been in palm Trees between the Palm from and the trunk, I don't count the Thousands out side eating all of the swine Mosquito's and the enjoying my citrus fruit as much as I do!. Small price to pay since Man made efforts to control insect populations are not enough most of the time.

easy-lift guy

[David Humphries]

On the other side of the pond we have 13 different species of bat.

 

I think there's 45 species in the US alone.

 

there's 18 here in the Uk (17 breeding)

 

 

 

 

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[treeseer]

I think there's 45 species in the US alone.

 

47, as counted by BCI, but the point is there are many and they are quite at risk. All the more reason for arborists to think about habitat, as Detective Dendro pointed out last April:

 

"“The sound was distinctly that of roosting bats” I said. They make visiting here in the summer more pleasant by eating mosquitoes, and control other pests

 

The presence of bats affects the risk assessment because bats are a valued species here, and add significant wildlife value to this tree. In some countries, even tiny wildlife like beetles and highly specialized fungi are highly valued. All creatures great and small are tree associates, worthy of our consideration.”

 

Full of coffee and curiosity, the group went back outside to the tree. The setting sun streaked the sky as they looked up to the deathly hollows in the holly trunk. After a quiet moment, one small brown creature took flight, then another, then several. The group burst into applause. “A reduction in the mosquito population would make the summer evenings more pleasant” the young woman mused dreamily, looking from me to the rising mammals, flying up and away.

 

Suddenly I felt quite warm, and concluded. “Bats are becoming endangered due to white-nose syndorme, which can be carried into their caves by unsuspecting humans. It’s up to arborists to preserve bat habitat in trees, and install bat houses in favorable locations. These valuable associates can roost in trees during the day, and control insect pests by night—a win-win-win deal for bats, trees and people.”

 

“It’s a bad deal for the insects”, Codit pointed out, “But we don’t want to facilitate closer coexistence with them, anyway.”

[Treecreeper1961]

Suddenly got into this lark, got me a bat detector (cheap heterodyne model)and went out at dusk last night to see who was about. I know we have a colony in the church, so the churchyard was a good place to start off.Tracked one for about an hour. Just wondering, if there is a resident colony, do they go off and hunt individually, or in a pack? Or would this be prey dependent and a shortage of insects meaning the "pack" would spread out?

Another point, my neighbour was concerned with the dense ivy blocking light to his house on the oak outside. The ivy had smothered 2/3rds of the tree, so I recommended cutting the ivy at the base. This year I have noticed bat activity in the evening has severely declined. I think the bats may have moved their home because of the ivy dying off, which is a shame, yet it shows the need for balance between nature and man.

 

As you may be thinking, a good compromise is to cut the ivy at 4 or 5 meters or above a union, rather than at ground level. Ivy is tremendously valuable for habitat and wildlife.

[NFG]

Hi,

 

We used to see quite a few in Cornwall & some occasionally when we lived in Corsham.

 

Now we see them frequently & even had one fly around the living room

 

N

[easy-lift guy]

I think there's 45 species in the US alone.

 

there's 18 here in the Uk (17 breeding)

 

 

 

 

.

 

I was refering to the Sunshine State, Florida, USA:thumbup1:

easy-lift guy

[Jesse]

In my twenty plus years of interacting with trees for a living, I think I can truthfully count my encounters with the wee furries probably on two hands.

 

mind you, me memories not quite what it was

 

this obviously isn't taking into account the hundreds if not thousands of darting shadows over the years that have been buzzing around above my head from dusk onwards.

 

Would like to get a gauge of how often people 'intimately' come across bats in or around the wild or urban woods during work.

 

Not asking if you've disturbed roosts, cause that would be kinda dumb

 

But have you heard them or seen them whilst sharing their space ?????

 

 

Here's a few shots of the ones I've managed to capture (or nearly capture, as in the last one, where I got rudely interupted whilst survey vets in the basque a couple of years back)

 

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Im pretty sure iv got Pips in my barn, i think they roost between the corugated roofing sheets of my timber store, Dutch barn, I like to share there space of an evening with a can of beer, if i stand or sit very still just inside the barn looking up to the roof towards the outside night sky, half looking in and half looking out, just after dark i get a real treat, they will swoop in and out of the barn and get closer and closer to my head to the point that i can feel the draft of there wings on my face. I think its my body heat which intrigues them. We also have a few of those dusk till dawn lights which they use as feeding grounds. This year i enjoyed there company up to the end of november and have seen then on odd warm nights in this mth, i think this warm winter has messed up there normal Torpor patern- im in Somerset i do have some knowlage of batts and iv also got a barn owl in the barn.

[David Humphries]

Im pretty sure iv got Pips in my barn, i think they roost between the corugated roofing sheets of my timber store, Dutch barn, I like to share there space of an evening with a can of beer, if i stand or sit very still just inside the barn looking up to the roof towards the outside night sky, half looking in and half looking out, just after dark i get a real treat, they will swoop in and out of the barn and get closer and closer to my head to the point that i can feel the draft of there wings on my face. I think its my body heat which intrigues them. We also have a few of those dusk till dawn lights which they use as feeding grounds. This year i enjoyed there company up to the end of november and have seen then on odd warm nights in this mth, i think this warm winter has messed up there normal Torpor patern- im in Somerset i do have some knowlage of batts and iv also got a barn owl in the barn.

 

Nice one K

Out of interest, what makes you sure they're Pips (not saying they're not) just curious as to how people identify different species in their encounters.

 

 

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