BaT Habits

Project X

Yesterday we revisited a location for bats. In september we found it.

A friend read in the newspaper about this big renovation project X.

The roof of the heritage building would get renovated so the municipality

was informed there might be swifts and bats living under the eaves and roof.

They responded well, informed the architect and invited the expert and my friend

(who asked me to come) to join the site meeting and advise them how to proceed.

Our first search at the attic... 

... and we found a colony of 34 long-eared bats!

The expert asked us to visit local project Y

Project Y

Project Y is a very special site, already an almost perfect place for bats.

But a long process as it comes to official status and adjustments of the buildings.

The buildings need to be closed off so the bats won't be disturbed or harmed.

We did came across a few flattened bats against the wall.

A photo from a hibernating bat we found in December.

If you want to photograph a hibernating bat, do it quickly!

You don't want to disturb the hibernation.

Some species are really sensitive to light and smell.

Don't forget bats are a protected species!

At this location we found several species. This is one of the buildings of

project Y we will visit several times a year to observe and count the bats.

The expert started teaching me different characteristics to some species,

and I turned out to be an excellent pupil.... (big smile) NOT!

It dazzled me and it became clear it would take a lot more practice and effort.  

Inventory Z

In February we helped inventorize bats in the caves ('mergelgrotten') of Riemst.

With lots of volunteers, devided into small groups,

each of them being responsible for a few sections,

we searched the caves for hours.

The kenderman and me were assigned to the group of 'our' expert

because he has been teaching me to identify the different species.

We were lucky to see a Greater mouse-eared bat (info in Dutch Vale vleermuis)

Impressive to see the biggest bat on the European mainland for real.

We didn't take any photo's, we didn't want to disturb them.

The main goal was an exact counting and to determine the species.

No less than 1500 bats and several species were counted ★

 

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Project X - Part 2 

Time has passed and now there's the follow-up on the first project, project X

The bats are really lively now and at this time of year they will give birth soon.

The colony is a group of females and it's uncommon for males to be part of it.

A colony of long-eared bats at the attic...

We're not sure yet what type of long-eared bats we're dealing with since there are two types:

• Brown long-eared bat (Latin: Plecotus auritus, Dutch: Grootoorvleermuis)
• Grey long-eared bat (Latin: Plecotus austriacus, Dutch: Grijze grootoorvleermuis)

The brown one has a pink to light brown nose, the grey one has a darker nose / mask,

but the form of the nose tip will give us a definitive answer.

We assume it's the grey long-eared bat but the photo's aren't good enough to be sure, yet.

Update: It's the brown long-eared bat!