For the last weeks while we have been out and about we have been picking up strange bat calls. Experience has taught us that these are not new species of bats but rather male bat courting females.
One way of finding females is at the woodland equivalent of street corners and hope you can attract the women along to have a look-see. You can read more about autumn swarming here.2011-1 autumn swarming
Autumn swarming in our neck of the wood is a low-key event compared to dawn swarming when the bats return to their roost,but in the last few years we have identified several swarming sites and this year we are having a more concerted go at investigating them further. Needless to say if we are going to be out half the night then it will be wet and windy or both. On Tuesday it was both, so bat activity was low, but we did eventually capture a well endowed brown long eared male who was in fine breeding fettle. You’ll have to take our word for it as we didn’t get any X rated photos of his vastly enlarged testicles