An Introduction to British Bats. Here int he UK we have a wonderful diversity of Bat species. Today. we take a look at which bat species you can find here in Britain today.
What is the first thing you think of when someone talks about bats?
For some, it will evoke memories of Horror movies and Count Dracula; for others, it may be the caped crusader, batman and his sidekick, Robin and many will react by stating that Bats get stuck in people’s hair. For me Bats are beautiful flying mammals – in fact, they are the only mammals that can sustain flight. Bats are amazing but they need our help.
One thing for sure is that Bats are misunderstood. Today, we are standing up for our fellow mammals and aiming to change how we think about bats in the future.
Bats are misunderstood on so many levels. This might be because they are nocturnal, or maybe because they like to roost hidden away, that they avoid artificially lit areas. The truth is bats are all around us, whether you live in the city’s centre, in a town or rural village.
Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera, which means ‘hand-wing’ in Ancient Greek. They are the only mammals capable of sustained flight.
We have a wonderful diversity of bat species in Britain, 18 in total. However, that’s where the positive news ends, as bat populations have crashed over recent decades, primarily due to humans. There are signs that some species are now recovering slightly, but more work needs to be done to protect and understand them.
If you do see Bats, they will likely be one of the three pipistrelle species, as they account for 80% of Britain’s bat population.
As the name suggests, the common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) and the soprano pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) are both doing well, whilst the Nathusius’ pipistrelle bat – Pipistrellus nathusii was only considered as resident in Britain from 1997 and is still rare and confined to small areas of the country.
You can see the Common Pipistrelle throughout the UK, and it is widespread. Pipistrelles are general feeders, taking a wide range of moths, beetles and midges, with fewer requirements for their roost areas. Common Pipistrelles can be found in the centre of big cities, our towns and the countryside.
Its similar-looking cousin, the Soprano Pipistrelles, prefers to feed in wetland areas. The best time to see bats is around dusk. Pipistrelles can be identified by their distinctive twisting flight patterns. If you visit a pond, lake or slow-flowing river in the early evening, there is a good chance you will see both species of Pipistrelle bats looking for insects.
All Bat species in Britain are active from around April to November, as they hibernate over winter. With the warmer winters, Bats may have been recorded leaving their roosts from February onwards in search of food and water, but this is a high risk for them as the energy they use needs to be replaced by finding enough food. If they don’t find food, they are at risk of dying.
Another bat you can see throughout Britain, including Scotland, although in much lower numbers than the pipistrelle species, is the Daubenton’s (Myotis daubentonii).
Daubenton’s will feed over slow-flowing rivers or lakes, and they use their hairy feet to snatch insects hovering just above the water’s surface in a high-speed, super agile flying manoeuvre. If you see a flash of white belly fur, the chances are good that you have seen a Daubenton bat feeding.
You should be able to find the Noctule (Nyctalus noctula) Bat throughout Britain. Noctules emerge when it is just beginning to get dark, and you will occasionally see them flying high in the sky in a straight line. They feed on insects just above the tree line and look amazing when silhouetted against the evening skyline.
Serotine Bats (Eptesicus serotinus). are one of the largest bat species in Britain. They can be seen in cities and towns, mostly around streets or building lights, as they hunt for moths and insects. They are also seen in urban parks and sometimes larger gardens, flying low over grass lawns as they take insects emerging from the grass.
All the above Bat species are reliably seen throughout Britain. Still, the picture becomes less clear as some bat species are regional whilst others have specific habitat needs not found throughout Britain.
Whilst all British bat species use echolocation to navigate and find their food, the bat’s sounds are beyond human hearing. So if you want to see some of the other bat species, you should consider buying a bat detector.
Bat detectors can be expensive, but you can find a good quality detector for around £80-£120 that will open you up to an amazing new audio world of bats.
With a bat detector, you may be able to find the horseshoe species of bats. The more common, the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) is still widespread throughout Britain, whilst its physically bigger cousin, the Greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), is now restricted to the Southwest of England and the south of wales.
Greater horseshoe bats feed almost exclusively on dung insects, such as flies and beetles, that rely on the dung of farmed or grazing animals.
Between the 1960s and 1990s, populations of this bat species declined by around 90%, primarily due to the increased use of Ivermectin wormers in livestock and horses. These wormers remain present once the farm animal has passed the dung, but the insects, that the greater Horseshoe bat depends upon for food are dead.
Both Horseshoe bat species use their distinctive noseleaf to manipulate their echolocation call, so instead of regular clicks on your bat detector, you will hear the high, almost warbling song they emit.
There are seven mouse-eared species of Bat in Britain, and these all make very similar sounds, so you may want to go out with your local bat group to get some help in confidently identifying the specific species.
You will most likely discover the mouse-eared bat first, the Brown, long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus). Their ears are two-thirds of their body length, so it’s no surprise they use echolocation to hunt their prey.
Brown long-eared bats also have hushed calls, and that’s because their favourite food is the yellow underwing moth (Noctua pronuba) that can detect echolocation at more normal levels, so the Brown long-eared bat has learnt to lower the volume of its calls. Evolution is fascinating!
Ancient woodlands with Mature trees are vital to some bat species, such as the barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus) and Bechstein’s bat (Myotis bechsteinii). Both these species are now scarce and declining as we have an average of just 13% tree cover in Britain – we were once the most wooded country within Europe – and around 2-3% is considered Ancient woodland, which these species both need.
In Ancient woodlands, you will find incredible old Oaks, Beech and Yew trees, often several hundred years old. These veteran trees are vital for many wildlife species, with the Barbastelles and Bechstein’s bats relying on these veteran tree features for their roosts.
Things like rot holes, splits or flaking bark are perfect homes. Neither species will use trees near footpaths, roads or railway lines or any small area of woodland that is highly managed, considered or often tidied up, leaving fewer options for these bats.
The more specialised species are also more vulnerable to other threats.
‘Dramatic reductions in insect populations and the use of industrial pesticides and wormers for horses and livestock have all caused declines,’
Britain’s bat species are in trouble. Nine of the 18 species are included in the first Red List for Britain’s mammals due to their rarity, rate of decline or lack of data.
Like most mammal species, including humans, Bats need key things to survive. They are a safe place to rest and breed, or what we call home, and access to find food and water. If any of these are adversely affected, then populations will decline.
There are many other factors in the decline of Britain’s bat populations. The increase in buildings and removal of older buildings had areas where bats could roost. The increase in light pollution in our villages, towns and cities, the decrease in insect populations, mainly due to the systemic use of pesticides on our crops, the routine medication of farm animals reducing nature’s dung collectors that some bat species rely upon and the massive decline in hedgerows and wildflower meadows because of the needs of modern farming and its ever bigger machinery and the use of wooden panel fencing in our gardens rather than hedges and the removal of gardens for additional car parking spaces.
You might be frustrated about what you can do to help Britain’s bats. The good news is there are some key things we can all do that could help them.
Firstly – Get gardening.
Attracting more insects to an outside space will benefit bats. You can do this by planting some night flowering plants, such as nicotiana, evening primrose and night-scented stocks. These will attract moths and other night-flying insects to your garden that the bats can feed on.
If you can, add a small pond or area of water. This will help all wildlife, including birds and other mammals, as well as bats, and never use any form of pesticides. Anything with cides in its name is poisonous and kills indiscriminately, not just the aphids or bugs but everything from insects to large mammals, including us. Many people are now falling seriously ill from poisoning from the Glysophate bug killers that are still legal and for sale in every garden centre and DIY shop in Britain. Complete madness!
Turn your lights off!
The solar lights in your garden may look pretty to us but not to bats and other animals with excellent nighttime vision. That old saying, ‘as blind as a bat,’ is completely wrong. Bats have good eyesight in low light conditions but do not like bright artificial light; in fact, some bat species will avoid an area with bright nighttime lighting.
If you have ultra-bright security lighting, please aim the lights downwards so the beam is spread towards possible intruders and not into the night sky where bats may be trying to feed.
Make your house ‘bat friendly.
There is a lack of understanding about bats roosting in houses. Unlike mice, bats do not build nests or cause any structural damage in their roosts.
The only likely damage from bats roosting in your loft is their urine. This can easily be solved by placing a dust sheet over the floor and moving any of your possessions from directly under the roost area.
Never use sticky insect or fly strips. These are lethal for bats as they get stuck to them, and they die a slow, often painful death. Another thing to point out is that Bats will roost right up against roof beams, so please avoid using toxic wood treatments.
Another death trap for bats in a house roost is the Modern breathable roofing membranes. The loose fibres can trap the bats, and they will become trapped and die from starvation.
If you have bats in your house, it’s good to be aware that All of Britain’s bat species are protected by law. As are their breeding sites and resting places.
Keep your cat in at night.
Cats are the largest killer of Bats in Britain. Keeping cats indoors at night, particularly around dawn and dusk when bats emerge and return to their roosts, will help protect bats. Cats are highly skilled predators and have a massive impact on wildlife. In addition to bats, Cats are also the largest killer of birds and mice species in Britain.
Very often, the cat does not kill the bat. It may be brought back to the house and discarded. Please do not just put the bat outdoors. The high bacterial load in the cat’s saliva will kill the bat slowly. They also frequently split the bat’s delicate wing membranes meaning the bat can no longer fly.
Wildlife Matters recommends that if your cat brings a bat home, you contact your nearest wildlife rescue and place the bat in a small box on a cloth or towel, folded lightly over the bat. Hence, it feels less vulnerable, and get it to the rescue centre as quickly as possible.
The best way to learn more about Bats is to join your local Bat group. The Bat Conservation Trust have groups all around the UK.
Local groups will take you on bat walks, teach you how to use bat detectors, learn about the different species and identify them.
They also carry out regular bat surveys that are great fun to participate in and provide data that the group will submit to the National Bat Monitoring Programme, helping to inform future bat conservation and protecting bats. You can find your local bat group by visiting the Bat Conservation Trust website.
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