At this time of year it is had to decide when to let a bat go, as hibernation time draws closer. The decision was to release him as soon a he put on some weight and was able to fly well and he seemed to get his perkiness together pretty fast. Geraldine takes up the story
Final report about the male Barbastelle we have had in care. This evening we took him over to Angie’s to see how well he could fly in her flight cage. He flew strongly once he decided to take to the wing, it seemed obvious to the three of us that it was time to release him. We took him back to the grounds of Manshead School, where Dick let him go.
Barb did a few circuits above our heads, watched and heard him via the bat detectors, before he disappeared into the night sky.Fingers and everything else crossed that the Barb feeds well tonight, finds a good roosting place, and doesn’t return to the exterior wall at the school where he was hanging out before. There are areas of woodland on the hillside, hopefully one of those will provide a suitable habitat for him.
Geraldine also tells me he wasn’t quite as dishevelled as his photo on the previous post suggested as he had just had a close encounter with his water container. Here is a picture she took yesterday when he was moved to a smaller cage so the large one was cleaned, where he looks much better
