We went over to Pulloxhill last night to give a talk. The brownies were really interested, especially as they recently visited the church and were shown a dead bat ( probably a pipistrelle). After the talk they settled down to make bat masks and bat puppets while we showed then the captive noctule in small groups.
My talk includes pictures of vampire bats and long tongue nectar eating bats and some of the girls improvised on the basic Daubenton’s bat mask. Note the fangs. You can perhaps guess from these masks how ghoulish some of the girls were
Another Daubenton mutates into a vampire Photo Jude Hirstwood
Finger puppet bats Photo Jude Hirstwood
Other girls opted to make bat finger puppets and flew them round the room once finished.
But the high spot of the night was probably their encounter with the captive noctule as these pictures below show. This was the response of the girls to the moment when the bat’s healthy wing was opened and they realised just how big a noctule bat is in flight. This is why I love giving talks
Meeting the bat Photo Jude HIrstwood
One question we are often asked is whether the bat has a name. We always explain that she hasn’t got a namee because she isn’t a pet, but a wild animal in captivity. Tonight one of the girls named her and insisted we call her “Goldfish”. This reminded us of a friend whose daughter had a goldfish which she named “Doorstop”
The brownies are going to have a fundraising session for the bat group in a few weeks time. They are talking about having a bat drive. We are assured that nlive bats will be involved!