When fixing dates for the monthly box surveys we deliberately put the June check early in the month and the July one later. We found nothing but birds on the June one and had heard that people were finding new born Brown long eareds in boxes in other counties recently. It was decided to go ahead with the check but not to disturb any boxes that held brown long eareds. Almost the first box that was checked appeared empty, but on being opened had a very young juvenile in it. There was no sign of its mother. The box was closed immediately and for the rest of the check, boxes containing Brown Long Eareds were not opened.(Their long ears are, fortunately, pretty visible.)
Brown long eared bat Bob Cornes (photo taken last year)
This meant that the check was quite speedy as no boxes contained anything other than brown long eareds. The questions has to be – where were the pipistrelles.