Sara , who usually reports on these surveys, is very pregnant and decided to miss out on this one so Bob has written a report.
“I have finished processing results from the survey, which involved more bats than I had realised at the time. In many places where we heard bats, there was more than one species present and we didn’t always notice them all. In particular, we didn’t spot the Noctules which showed up in several places because there were always Serotines around at the same time. In total, I recorded 351 bat passes (counting each 5 second file as one for each bat species it contained). The attached maps show the locations of the bat activity. The list of species was:
” 2 Myotis species (probably Natterer’s and at least one of Daubenton’s, Whiskered and Brandt’s)
3 “big bat” species (Noctule, Leisler’s and Serotine)
2 or 3 pipistrelles (Common, Soprano and possibly Nathusius’ – there were two passes which I’ve labelled as “low frequency pips”, which look promising for Nathusius but can’t be confirmed)
Barbastelle
There were no definite Brown Long-Eared but there was one pass which was either this species or Serotine.
Despite my pessimism, the static detector on the Gatehouse lawn worked and recorded 300 files, with most containing bats. There was abundant activity all evening of pips and big bats, which included quite a few Leisler’s.
Overall, a very productive survey”
Bob is a master of the understatement. We get few Leisler;s records in Beds, not least because they’re difficult to separate from Noctules but these were definite records as both species were hunting on the Gatehouse lawn.
Leisler’s bat. Photo Bob Cornes taken on a trapping survey elsewhere