Day 9 - Bat detecting

After a day of gardening, visiting and (excitingly) planning a holiday, my major 'wild' activity was saved for the evening. I was very excited about going out with Paul and our various bat detectors to pick up their echo location calls. Where we lived previously, a bat walk meant picking up three or four different species of bats on a regular basis. We have not had as much luck here. Paul's bat detector is on every night and so far we have had one bat, a noctule, flying over.

It is the one thing about our previous home that I miss - the wild action of the night!

Like a child waiting for Christmas, the sun finally set last night and we were ready with our bat detectors and, sadly, waterproofs. Come on! Does the world not know it is June and approaching the solstice? I want to feel that longest day approaching and be fully aware of it. Please may it not arrive in drizzle and somberity! (My made up word from sombre.)

The flying creatures of the night do not like rain, at least the bigger ones don't; moths are often brought down to moth traps in fine drizzle, but bats, wisely, stay in their roosts unless they absolutely HAVE to go out and feed.

Anyway, we managed to pick up two species of bats - a pipistrelle and a serotine. I love hearing their feeding buzz, which is visible on the sonogram as the bars all huddled closely together. Sadly, we didn't manage to record the songs of the night, so we shall await a finer night and be more closely tuned in!