Tuesday 30 August 2011

European Bat weekend at Earlswood Lakes

Thanks to all those that turned out last night (32 people signed in) to witness a spectacular storm, a lightning bolt that must have blown the tern-raft out of the lake and got the local Tawny Owls talking, and a bit of rain to make sure we went home wet. Oh, and quite a few bats performed for us too.

The evenings tally on the Anabat recordings were:

Soprano Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pygmaeus = 173 sonograms

Common Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus = 19 sonograms

50khz Pip (Com or Sop) = 10 sonograms

Noctule Nyctalus noctula = 3 sonograms

Daubenton’s Bat Myotis daubentonii = 6 sonograms (probable)

Natterer’s Bat Myotis nattereri = 1 sonogram (probable)

Myotis spp = 3 sonograms

Brown Long-eared Bat Plecotus auritus = 2 sonograms

As you can see, the Soprano Pipistrelle is by far the commonest and would have been the species flying around our heads and dive bombing towards our faces all around the lakes (non caught up in hair though).

The Myotis are a difficult group to separate from calls and I have given it my best guess, only checking the bat boxes will allow us confirmation of which Myotis we have on the site.

Thanks again,

Paul Wilkinson (27/08/2011)

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