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East Lancs Bat Blog
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Hibernation? Only for bats
You'd think that winter would be a quiet time for a bat group but we've been busy travelling around the area surveying suitable sites for hibernating bats.
From the end of October to the end of March (roughly) bats tend to head off from their summer roosts to find somewhere with a nice cool and stable temperature where thay can lie dormant until there are plenty of insects around again to eat.
So it's a good opportunity to find out a bit more about their distribution throughout East Lancashire. We've mainly been looking at Lime Kilns but it's suprising just where hibernation sites spring up; Ice Houses, footpath tunnels, park shelters, caves and mines have all been visited and counts carried out.
All these sites are incredibly important for the continued survival of our bat populations. It's important to only visit them with a licensed and experienced bat worker to ensure no bats are disturbed.
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Hunting for Lessers
Our main focus for the coming survey season is searching for Lesser Horseshoe bats in the Hodder Valley of Bowland. We've an idea of where they spend winter but our aim is to identify their summer roosting sites.
On May the 6th we held the first of our survey nights, no Lessers found but an ideal night for bat detector and surveying training with (in order of appearance) Noctules, Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Brown Long Eared and a Myotis bat (possibly Whiskered/Brandts) all putting in an appearance whilst we waited patiently in the dark.
Last night I retuned for a lone vigil, it was forecast 6C with a cool easterly wind. Plenty of action was recorded on the lee side of the woods with territorial Soprano Pipistrelles giving the Commons Pipistrelles a hard time.
 Sonogram of Soprano Pipitrelle calls
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Winter work
A lot of people think there's not much work to be done through winter but we had a successful day today checking Lime Kilns for hibernating bats. As well as being of historic importance it's turning out that Kilns provide ideal conditions and suitable crevices for a number of species of bat. Never underestimate the usefulness of a cheap waterproof picnic blanket, it makes surveying the lower parts of a kiln so much easier (and cleaner).
As usual the day threw up as many summer opportunities for further work as it did actual bats observed.
Remember, disturbing bats is against the law.
Interested in getting involved? Email us for our calendar of events.
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