Dogs, walks, moths, migies and a close encounter of the bat kind!

Well, this year has been a slow one regarding the bat related events and meetings that I have managed to get to. The weather has played a nasty part in this, but so too have work commitments which meant I haven’t been at home at the right times!

That said, I've still been out and about with my Bat Detector on the evenings when I'm home and we walk the dog - we did recently have some warmer late summer nights and these provided some entertaining bat fly-overs on the local field!

Only a few weeks ago, whilst on the field we encountered two very inquisitive and amazing Noctule bats! As we walk Raiden (Weimaraner) on an extended lead, he uses this to his advantage and gets a good long run when he runs in circles around us; this means that he has a constant run as we walk the perimeter of the field. It also means that as he runs, he obviously disturbs the lying-low moths and midges and the bats, obviously realising this, use Raiden as a sort of foraging tool.

You can see the bats get incredibly close whilst he's running about - they even 'buzz past' in between us - the not quite dark light levels allowing us to see their shape and size and flying pattern. This means I am normally transfixed and Raiden ends up slowing down to see why we've stopped walking!

We must have stood for about thirty minutes whilst two bats flew around, between, up and down; the buzzes from the bat detector proving their meals! I felt quite privileged that night!

I've noticed the Noctules quite regularly over this summer - I might be wrong, but I don't remember seeing/hearing quite so many last year.

The Pips have been great around the little set of trees between the housing estates near to us. They have a special clump of trees that have two street lights amongst them so in the evening you get to see/hear them swooping in and about the back gardens, then up, over and then dropping down between the trees - that familiar buzz letting you know that they've had a good feed tonight! This is another location that I love to stand and monitor their activity - night after night they fail to amaze.

I can strongly recommend that anyone who likes/loves bats and often finds themselves out and about in the evening - especially when walking a dog , get a Bat Detector, it opens up the evening sky to a bit more life at the end of the darkening day.

:0)

xx
Anna.




Image Credit:
 Noctule Bat: http://www.cymdeithashanesmechell.co.uk/Ecology.htm
Street Light: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/shedding-light-on-a-fleeting-feast-of-fluttery/2005/10/04/1128191720187.html

A late night,Pips,BLEs,Noctules and Baby Bats....Manchester Airport Bat Barns - My first visit!

On the 16th June 2011, I awoke, already tired! I’d had rather an early start and a late end the day before. But, tired as I was, I was happy to be.

This was due to the fact that on the night of the 15th June 2011 I was invited via the Cheshire Bat Group to join their Bat Survey at the Bat Barns of Manchester Airport. I had researched a little into these barns at the airport and had also been advised by The Cheshire Bat Group that if the opportunity arouse it was one not to be missed.

The Bat Barns at Manchester Airport helped to replace a Brown Long Eared maternity roost that housed itself in a farm house; the farm house had been removed during the building of the new runway. The existing roof timbers of the farm house were used in the building of the new barns. Here, they mimic the same structure of the old house, but it is twenty five percent smaller. In total, three new Bat Barns and also the addition of two hundred and fifty bat boxes, in different designs to attract different species, have been erected in the area.

I’ll admit, as someone not good in a crowd, I had some trepidation as I arrived at the car park and saw quite a gathering of people. The assurance that I was in the right place came when I saw the usual wet weather and rambler attire that a group, planning on spending the late evening out in the elements were all wearing.
I (nervously) donned on my ‘wets’ ( trousers, jacket and hiking boots) and tooled myself up with my Bat Detector, a torch and my mobile phone and did my best to ‘loiter with intent’. We were waiting for Ged Ryan who had organised the evening and once he had arrived, we talked as a group and then he let us split up into groups depending on the Bat species we wanted to survey.

During my early days with my Bat Detector I have heard and identified Pipestrelles and Debaunton bats, so I opted to go and hear something different. I want to experience as many different species as I can so that I can train my ears to the varying characteristics of a species sound. Ged and a small group were heading for the Bat Barn known to have Whiskered Bats and others were off to seek out Brandts Bats in an adjacent barn. A third group took a drive down to where Pipesstrelles are more commonly seen.

I was lucky enough to be walking along side Dave (or 'Dr Dave' as he is affectionately known) who told me more about the Barns and the types of Bat Detectors he has used. Dave has a great interest in audio patterns and is certainly the technological mastermind of the group. He kindly explained to me, as we were walking through the woodlands, the Anabat devices that they have at the Barns and that tonight he wanted to check on their function.

Here comes the science bit.......

Anabat detectors are designed to help users identify and survey bats by detecting and analysing their echolocation calls. It is most widely used for passive detection, where the detector is used as a logging device to monitor bat activity in the absence of human intervention. For active monitoring, bat calls can be recorded in real time using the Anabat system. Coupled with a PDA arrangement this gives the user maximum freedom of movement to follow bats on foot or from a moving vehicle

As we wandered over a wooden bridge towards the tunnels we split into two groups – our group headed for the Whiskered Bats.
I had never realised (as many from outside of the area have not) the construction of the runway and the affected surrounding area, but interestingly, walking under the runway along a natural water source and hearing about the Otter marks that had been seen here was an eye opener to the positive conservation steps within the area (this I know may be open to argument).
And don’t be mislead into thinking that you just get to stand about all night looking for Bats – we walked up some real steep inclines through brambles, woodland and uphill and dale on our way to the Barns that night.
When we arrived at the Barns (around 9.10pm), the heavens opened. Huddled under our coat hoods and umbrellas we prayed the rain might stop and worked hard to avoid any moisture getting into our bat detectors.

Half of our group stood beneath the highest exit of the barn, Ged and I wandered to the front side where there is an open grill and also some smaller wooden facia exits that the bats are known to use. Ged was kind to explain the lay of the local area and how the bats behave because of this. He mentioned that some of them do not ‘shout’ as they exit the barn because they know the route out; they do not anticipate any obstacles; it is when they are feeding that you might hear them the loudest here.

I had a lovely chat with Ged, who was forthcoming with his own history of working with bats and the many varied talks at schools he has performed over the years. As we chatted, he would check the thermometer that he had hung in a nearby tree and around 9.50pm we started to see the occasional bat pop out from the highest exit point. These were counted by the team covering that section.

We had a Pippestrelle exit from the facia board and then I started to pick up the movement of a bat that was flying up to the open grate and then back into the barn again. Ged believed that it was ‘light testing’ – checking the overall light levels before exiting. The bat flew up and back in four times before exiting, 5 feet from the ground swooping upwards right in front of us.

There was no sound from my bat detector! As a novice, my first thought was that I was listening on the wrong KHz and therefore wouldn’t have picked any of its echolocation sounds up, but there was no sound to be heard on Ged’s detector either. From Ged’s experience he was immediately able to identify that this was a Brown Long Eared bat and that they are also known as ‘the whispering bat’ because they have such a ‘quiet’ call that our detectors do not allow us to hear them. The size of the bat was also an indication. It certainly seemed a lot bigger than the usual pip that I have been used to seeing. After about twenty minutes and with a flyby of a Noctule as it foraged high and around the open field to our right, another Brown Long Eared bat flew to the grate a handful of times and then exited. A short while later we saw another.

We had around 19 bats (Pips and BLEs) exit the barn that night and as the sun had set and a prolonged period had passed after the last bat exit, we were able to go into the barn to check the Anabat.
Red torches to hand we entered the barn – I had absolutely no idea what to expect so I followed the other more knowledgeable group members. We looked around the ground floor of the barn, peering up into the rafters to see if there were any bats hanging, but at first the only thing we discovered was a half sleeping blue tit.

Carefully climbing the ladder we went upstairs. A part built and evidently abandoned birds nest sat in the middle of the room and we could also see the bat droppings (Guano) that we had anticipated to find. Carefully peering into the rafters proved fruit full as a handful of tiny, silver baby bats (pups) were found. They looked healthy, a good size and were able to move around in the space freely and easily. This was a very exciting point of the night for me! It just seemed amazing that on my first survey, I had been able to see wild, live, baby bats and really healthy looking ones too. It was reassuring to find out that they were using the Barn as a maternity roost. I couldn’t believe my luck. I remember standing there taking in as much detail as I could in the quick glimpses that we got – I could almost feel the shutter in my photographic memory taking rapid snapshots, not wanting to forget a single image.

After a quick check on the barn and a good night whisper to the sleeping blue tit, we wandered back down the country trail to meet up with the group that had gone to check on the Brandts bats. They had had some success with their survey, but I was still immensely pleased that I’d had the chance to see baby bats!
The walk back was a little easier, despite having to continually avoid tiny newts, snails and frogs that be speckled the damp pavements. I also had quite a spring in my step after a night of Pips,BLEs, Noctules and pups. I got home and although I was tired I didn’t want to sleep. I had learnt quite a bit that evening and my mind was processing it all, conscious of not losing any of it.

For my first survey and first visit to the bat barns it was a wonderful experience and has instilled further that getting involved, in whatever way we can to help conserve these animals is worth every minute of the late night before!

Xx

Anna

Anabat details: http://users.lmi.net/corben/anabat.htm#Anabat%20Contents (Chris Corben)
Baby bat http://slog.thestranger.com/files/2007/04/babybat.jpg
Ble http://www.marcthevet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/brown-long-eared-bat.jpg

Note: The entire evening was lead by an experienced and licensed team member.

INVALUABLE BAT TRUSTS AND GROUPS:

First stop, Bat Conservation Trust....
When I learnt, that as a novice, I could listen to and identify the Bats that visit our garden each night it fired up the realisation that there really are some amazing Bat species here in the UK and that there are ways of getting closer to them whilst at the same time do something to help conserve their habitats.
When I found the Bat Conservation Trust online I was thrilled to read the open and honest articles and I felt refreshed by the way that the site encourages you to get involved with surveys, walks and conservation work. There are many Trusts where you are unable to make such a huge contribution just by offering a little of your time and that even simply just counting Bats in and out of a local roost can provide significant statistical data.

So, without hesitation, I joined the BCT and looking through the website I found the Online Training section comprehensive and none patronising for beginners. It logically takes you by the hand on how to do Field Surveys and it helped me realise that I could do this; that I too could help contribute but with a minimum of set up.

I also liked the communication set up whereby the BCT can notify your local Bat Group that you have joined; so if you want to get in touch, it has already made an introduction (of sorts) for you.

Local Bat Groups ~ Cheshire Bat Group...

I then found the Cheshire Bat Group. Like many groups, they are run by active conservationists and licensed members and I realised that this would be the first group that I could get directly involved in. I sent an email and was able to join their Yahoo news group which, when you join, puts you on their email list so you can get friendly advice and receive notice of events or participate in forum chats.

(I'll talk more about my first Cheshire Bat Group survey in my next blog - Manchester Airport Barns Bat Survey).

Coming soon on the Bat Yarns blog ...... Putting the ‘Barns’ into ‘Bats, Barns and Nocturnal Yarns’ : My first visit to the Manchester Airport Bat Barns with the Cheshire Bat Group.

Dog Walks, Bat Detectors and the Start of My Field Education...

After joining the BCT and the CBG, I ordered and received my Magenta Bat4 Detector. As I said in my earlier blog, I have gone for an entry level detector because I don’t want to be 'hand held' by the technology from the get-go. I want to learn from the ground upwards. As a Trainer by nature, I like to start at the beginning and build up from there; that way if you are ever going to educate other beginners you can do so knowing the basic information that will give them a good start to help nurture their growing interest.

Every night since, I have popped into the garden and listened for our nightly visitors and I can safely say that my Bat4 is not letting me down! It picks these little creatures up from quite a range and also from behind or to the side of you. You do need a direct location to really hear the frequency and type of sound that the bat/s are making, but I often hear a bat behind me which I would otherwise had missed if I was just reliant on my eyes.

Having the Bat Detector helps bring you into their world – you are no longer just dependant on your eyes, (which can often deceive you with a late-home blackbird, as it fast-feathers past the corner of your peripheral vision) you can now use your ears too to help locate the position of your observation target.

We’ve also been taking the dog for some late evening walks - which he finds the wait for a little frustrating! But the field that we normally walk him on comes alive at dusk with the Bats doing purposeful figures of eight over our heads and we can see them darting in and out of the tree lined hedging. A walk through the cemetery always provides the opportunity to practise tuning the sounds of the Bats because they are regular and plentiful in passes.

I now take my Bat detector with me wherever I go, especially when I know I will be out come nightfall. Walking the dog and even a cheeky outside-beer at the pub has brought to life the Bats that we would never have noticed before. Even the little stream on the way into town had me transfixed for over half an hour as I got to hear a different species of Bat to that on the field. The dog didn’t quite understand the hold up that night but he seems to be getting used to my stops and starts now.

I’ve also been videoing some of the passes that we’ve encountered. This helps me keep a record of the frequency my 'Bat4' was set to and also helps me ‘remember’ the type of sounds we were hearing. This I find really useful (as a beginner) because I can then compare my sounds with those on the BCT Sounds file pages.

http://youtu.be/cyDif6nfGzg

So, finding the BCT and the CBG and tooling myself with my Bat Detector have been a great start on my knowledge journey and I cannot recommend the BCT and your local Bat Group highly enough to help get you started.

xx

Anna

Bat Conservation Trust: http://www.bats.org.uk/

Cheshire Bat Group: http://www.record-lrc.co.uk/c1.aspx?Mod=Article&ArticleID=G00020001Magenta

(Bat Detectors) : http://www.magenta2000.co.uk/

Introduction to Bats, Barns and Nocturnal Yarns...

I have watched bats flit about a night for as long as I can remember. Creatures that make use of a time when there is no daylight or warmth from the sun (speaking as a sun worshipper) intrigue and inspire me.

As teenagers, my friends and I used to head down to the River Dee in Chester and sit, just opposite the Queen’s Park suspension bridge, and watch the bats leaving their roost on their nightly forage. We would sit, with our own catch - cones full of salty chips, regularly waving a plastic fork skewered chip to signal the emergence of another bat.

We would watch as they swooped and darted up to the tree line, then drop straight down towards the water surface catching their meal mid flight. After the catch, their flight would settle before detecting another winged morsel and they would repeat the manoeuvre. The sight of them flitting, darting, dropping and turning a silhouette against the darkening sky mesmerised me.

Gosh, to think – for over thirty years I have knowingly looked out for bats at dusk ,but surprisingly in all of that time, I had never pursued the interest any further. Well, that is except for a developing love for the ‘Tropical Bat House’ at Chester Zoo and the frequent urges I get to pay it a visit. I suspect it's a good thing that the Bat House doesn't offer admission without the cost of a full price Zoo ticket, otherwise I may be there so often I’d be wanting my own roost.

Then five years ago I moved to South Cheshire where every night our garden is visited by at least two foraging bats. You can almost set your watch by them. They appear just on the cusp of dusk as the daylight becomes a darkening, smoky blue hew and the blackbirds, the last to go to bed, ready themselves for their nightly roost with a final perimeter check.

These bats, their species previously unknown to me, have always circled between our and next door’s garden. Both gardens are lined with hedges to about fifteen to twenty feet high with a row of fir trees and plenty of bug attracting flowers, so it seems no surprise that we regularly get foraging bats. They often fly around between the two gardens at the height of our back door, which means we can stand and watch to our hearts content as they swoop towards the door and turn on a dime to catch their prey.

They have become such regulars that our neighbour pops out into the garden and utters a soft and welcoming “Hello Bat” as she stands smoking a late evening cigarette.


I think my interest has increased over the last twelve months after watching an episode of 'Spring Watch' on BBC2 – they had a group of Bat Conservationists that were using Bat Detectors to hear and locate bats and this has been in the back of my mind ever since. I’ve looked them up a few times and put them on my wish list, but finally ‘I got around’ to doing something about it.


Last month I finally got motivated to do some up to date research and I went and bought my first Bat Detector. The nightly chip-chop and click-clicks of the Bats echolocation sounds has intoxicated me ever since and it has spurred me on to get more involved with the conservation of these lovely creatures.




Hence my 'Bat, Barns and Nocturnal Yarns' blog.
I am a complete novice at Bat Detection, Species Recognition and Conservation Surveys so this is my way of recording the things I find on my nightly walks, surveys and group meetings that I go to and I will also share some of the 'Bat Facts' and web links that I learn along the way.

If, like me you have even a passing interest in these intriguing creatures then it’s good to have you along for the experience and maybe we can learn a thing or two together.

Xx

Anna.

Chester Zoo: http://www.chesterzoo.org/must-sees/animal-exhibits/fruit-bat-forest

Photo: Queens Park Suspension Bridge2 (c) http://www.flickr.com/photos/pokerbrit/ by Steve

Photo: Bats,Barns & Nocturnal Yarns (c) Anna Ganderton 2011