First Bat Box check for new bat project

The bat group put up fifty boxes in a Bedfordshire wood , following a grant from Costain Carillion, in the beginning of May.

Photo of pipistrelle by Bob Cornes

Today, some of the bat group went out to check them. As much to check they could locate them as much as anything, Imagine their surprise that the first 6 boxes yielded  three bats, a soprano pipistrelle, a common pipistrelle and a brown long eared bat.  By the end of a long day 39 boxes had been checked and 19 bats had been found.

These were weighed and measured, their sex and breeding status recorded before they were returned to their boxes.

Brown long eared bat Bob Cornes

Anybody at home? Photo Bob Cornes

In addition we came across two brown long eared roosts.The first ones we have found in this wood.

Photo Jonathan Durward

Brown long eared droppings Photo Jonathan Durward

One of the roosts was quite low in the trunk of tree. It had been used very recently as the droppings at entrance of the hole showed

Photo Bob Cornes

It was rather harder work checking the actual bat boxes

By the end of the day  it was  a very tired group headed home. (limping in Aidan’s case as he aggravated an ankle injury) We will try to do the rest of the boxes in the next few days.

Update. The rest of boxes were checked a few days later an we fond two more pipistrelles in the remaining boxes. That gives us a 40% occupancy rate

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