How tired are we of this rotten weather? We had to abandon plans of continuous recording because of the rain,| ( Which meant there were f bats abut and all we would record was raindrops at the risk of getting gear wet( but do intend to start doing fix point monitoring if it ever stops,
Angie Cornwell, survey co-ordinator writes
Well it was a very wet survey last night so needless to say very little activity of the bat kind. A solitary Pip and a Noctule made a brief appearance over the lake before disappearing amongst the rain drops. Box 11 was home to some pips and their neighbours at Box 10 were Daubentons, not too sure of the numbers but more than one of each.
Thanks to Dick, Geraldine, Steve, Bob and Jo for braving the weather and embarking on a soggy survey.
This bedraggled brown long eared bat was found sheltering in a dormouse box in a rainstorm several years ago.Photo Bob Cornes
German researchers led by Christian Voigt wondered whether flight is impaired when bat pelage (fur) and wing membranes get wet. They studied the metabolism of short flights in Carollia sowelli, a bat that is exposed to heavy and frequent rainfall in neotropical rainforests.. They quantified the flight metabolism in three treatments: dry bats, wet bats and no rain, wet bats and rain. Dry bats showed metabolic rates predicted by their size and shape. However, flight metabolism increased twofold when bats were wet, or when they were additionally exposed to rain. They concluded that bats may not avoid rain only because of sensory constraints imposed by raindrops on echolocation, but also because of energetic constraints