After a very successful outing in May, we were wondering what we would find this time round Aidan, Gwen,Ellie, Nicky and Bob were joined by Peter West of the Essex Bat Group, who is about to set up a project there.
It was a bright and sunny day on Sunday and everyone got very warm. They got all but three of the boxes checked and Bob went back on Monday to finish off the last boxes
Last month there were lots of nesting blue tits. This month only a single blue tit was still in residence and so they were able to remove old nests to make more room for the bats.
Ringed bat Drawing by Joan Childs
They found only two soprano pipistrelles (which we did not ring) and 45 brown long eared bats, 6 of which had been ringed last month. The remaining 39 were ringed.
All the ringed bats were checked for possible damage and all were healthy and had gained weight in the past month.
None of the boxes we put up in January are occupied yet, but of the longer standing boxes 92% have been occupied or showed signs of occupancy ( i.e. droppings) at least once
They also found two tree roosts when escapee bats made a run for it. (They flew but you know what I mean)
The brave checkers went home hot and very tired. Aidan’s pedometer showed he had walked nearly 10 miles on Saturday.
The next check will take place at the end of July to give the bats a chance to give birth in peace and any box containing young will not be disturbed.