We thought long and hard before trapping on Thursday night as some other areas of the country reported heavily pregnant bats. In the end we went ahead but checked the traps more often and agreed to stop trapping if we caught any obviously pregnant bats
We caught a few common and soprano pipistrelles, which meant Gill had a chance for some handing and release practice. Ant had his first sight of bats up close and was enchanted. (He had only seen bats in hibernation surveys). Gill ‘s eyes it up[ when she saw an echometer touch, and mumbled “its my birthday” in a Gollum type voice,
We also caught two Noctule males who demonstrated their usual strop befoe quietening down
At the end of the evening we caught a Natterer’s.
None was heavily pregnant
Along the way we were visited by some guests at Center Parcs, who were really enthusistic and stayed quite a whole with us
Thanks to Dave, Phil, Rachel, Gill and Ant for turning out.
We had as bonus view of a stoat and some lovely views of bats.