I’ve always been impressed by the sheer speed and agility of bats zipping around trees at dusk. Last Christmas I was given a rather unusual gift of a bat detector. I had to wait a few months for the bats to come out of their winter hibernation. Now, for the last couple of months, I’ve been driving Ian mad by taking the dog and the bat detector for a walk at dusk!
I am still learning, but the detector makes it much easier to locate and identify them. I think I’ve captured audio of two species: The larger Noctule bat, with a wingspan of about 36cm and weighing around 40g, comes out just before sunset around the tops of the taller trees and is the largest species of bat in UK. The common pipistrelle are much smaller with a 22cm wingspan and weighing under 4g, they swoop and dive around the gaps in the canopies and under trees, there’s usually a few of them and they can “buzz you”. But be warned they poop just like birds in mid-flight. So if it’s lucky to be bombed by a bat then I should be buying a lottery ticket this week!
Fun fact- Bats live up to thirty years and the collective noun is usually colony , but I love a cauldron of bats more!
These recordings were made near to Braunston Marina, they are a bit “noisy” but I recorded them on my iPhone from the bat detector- so not very high tech! They are quite short, but they give you an idea of how different these two species sound.
The noctule
The common pipistrelle
Great post Heather. We also enjoy watching the bats, we have them flying round our courtyard area. They are so fast! X