The first of three of these surveys took place on the 6th May
Geraldine reports
This survey is a walk from Luton Parkway Railway Station to the East Hyde Sewage Works area, then back to the starting point . No cyclists were encountered on this occasion, on the cycle path so we didn’t have to move out of the way.
First bat to be heard was a Pip, couldn’t be sure which type was it. The second call which was picked up soon after that was a Soprano Pipistrelle. We had good views of a number of Pips flying up and down the tree lined path which at that point is fairly close to the railway line. We saw and heard both Soprano and Common Pipistrelles, with some excellent views of them flying and a number of feeding buzzes.
On our return journey a Noctule was heard via one of the detectors, it was not picked up by either of the other two detectors in use. A good reason to have more than one make of detector on these occasions. Calls from Myotis? were recorded, but they were not long enough calls to make a positive id. There was a lot more activity from the Common and Soprano Pipistrelles on our way back to the starting point.
Thanks to Angie for her invaluable help and company.