Bats

purplerallim

Last night at twilight I saw two bats hunting. We have been here three years now and I thought this would be an ideal area for bats as open areas to hunt in, old buildings for roosting , but it has taken till now to see any. Hubby jumped out of his skin when I shouted bat!😂 
Not sure what type as very fast, flying in loops, but didn't look very big, I'm chuffed.😁

Dovefromabove

We love bats too and enjoy watching the bats in the evening ... we live very close to some old chalk mines on an SSSI and  it's home to around 50 bats of three different types ... we see them on most dry evenings, chasing the moths around our garden 

Fairygirl

It's lovely seeing them p'allim 
We're just on the edge of farmland here, and we get them regularly around the houses in summer.
I used to live round the corner from this house,  and we had two big trees in the front garden, so tons of flies and midges. I used to watch them from an upstairs bedroom window, at the same height as I was, circling at great speed between the house and the trees 

purplerallim

My last house was a five minutes walk from a park with lots of bat boxes so was used to seeing them, thought it would be similar here surrounded by fields in an oldish village so am pleased to see them.

Bijdezee

We get a lot of bats. I don't know what type but I suspect some kind of pipistrelle from the size. I was wondering... At what temperature do they hibernate for winter? They just seem to disappear at some point. Maybe with the decline in food, moths mozzies etc? 

wild edges

I'm not sure about the exact temperature but in construction projects we're told that the active bat season is end of April through to beginning of September with exact dates to be confirmed depending on weather conditions. September and October (and March/April) seem to be periods where bats are intermittently active while moving from their summer roosts and maternity sites to their winter/hibernation sites. This is a good time when you might get an odd overnight visitor in a bat box. We're told that the temperature needs to be a minimum of 12 degrees C at dusk for bats to be active. I've seen bats out hunting in the middle of the day in December though when it was warmer and overcast.

Bijdezee

Thanks @wild edges

purplerallim

Maybe that's why I'm seeing them now as they are on the move to their winter site.

Lyn

They use our loft to sleep in. Yuk, they do make a mess but to see a mother with a baby no bigger than my little fingernail clinging on is a sight to see.