On the evening of the Bank Holiday we headed off to Stockgrove Park for our regular survey
Richard Hogg (who is standing in for Angie) reported
We had a very good turn out of people to take part in this survey. All 6 parking spaces had been booked, though one person was unable to attend at the last minute due to ill health.
First bat picked up on the detectors was Soprano Pipistrelle at 20.38 near Tree Roost 7 (T7).
We had a good view of 2 Noctules by the lake at 20.50.
Common Pipistrelles were heard and seen near the boathouse at 21.00.
Daubentons were also seen and heard in that area at 21.09.
All the known and potential tree roosts we inspected were not occupied by bats.
Two of the boxes did have bats in residence. Brown Long Eared were in Box 10, Bob had brought his hand net, he caught 1 female as they emerged. 13 bats came out of that box between 20.59 and 21.12.
Daubentons were in Box 2. They started to leave the box at 21.11 and by
21.24 all 11 had departed.The torch beam across the lake, began at 21.20, but no Daubentons flew
through the beam. However a bit later on, 3 Daubentons were seen flying
in that area.Thanks to Gwen, Yan-Yee, Julia (Yan-Yee’s Mum), Bob, Viv, Geraldine Malcolm and Soggy for helping with the survey.
Finding the brown long eared bat was a real bonus as it was the first time that they had ever seen a live bat close up, and it’s good that so many people are coming out despite the less than ideal conditions.