At this time of year, our hearts always sink when we get a bat call. If the bat is not fit for immediate release it means keeping it throughout the winter as the weather is now so poor there is unlikely to be the right conditions for its release.
So when we had a phone call from the church warden at Saint Mary Magdalene’s in Westoning we feared the worst. He had found a bat on the stairs leading up to the parvis (a room over the church porch)> The door from the parvis staircase to the church itself has no gaps to allow the ingress of bats so it must have got there through a small hole in the ceiling of the church porch.
On arrival we found the best if all possible solutions – the bat had made its way elsewhere. From the description given to us we were able to confirm that it was a brown long eared bat – the first record of that species we had for this church.
It is likely that the bat was exploring, looking for a suitable site to hibernate. We hope it found a snug spot.