It's Bat Appreciation Month!
October is often called "Spooky season" by those on the internet, so it makes sense that one of natures creatures that is often linked to spookiness gets a month of their own. The beloved and often misunderstood bat.
There are eighteen species of bat living in the UK (which is nearly a quarter of native mammal species) and all of them hibernate over the colder, winter months. Bats are the second largest group of mammals in the world, after rodents, and can be found throughout the world. Uniquely, the arms (forelimbs) and hands of all bats are webbed to form wings which, unlike gliding animals (like the very cute flying squirrel) make bats the only mammals capable of true flight!
All British bats are insectivorous, meaning they only eat insects. Different species have their own preferences and ways of hunting, but many will feed on moths, mosquitoes, midges, beetles etc. Bats are unique in the way they catch these tiny insects; using a sound-based system called echolocation. By emitting very high frequency calls, bats are able to listen to echoes of those calls as they bounce back and use them to create an image of their surroundings. As you can probably guess, by eating lots of mosquitoes, bats really are our friends in the summer.
Sadly, the UK bat populations are dwindling fast, due to a variety of reasons. As their natural habitats have been taken away by humans, Bats have luckily adapted very well to urban environments. Commonly using our gardens as a vital food source and shelter. Your homes and gardens play an important role in ensuring a better future for bat species. Having bats means you have a green and healthy environment. ๐
Although in the UK, bats tend to be going into hibernation in October, over in the USA and Canada, they're still very active, so the UK bats will have to catch up on all the Bat Month fun when they emerge in April.
Have you ever seen a bat? Do you have bats roosting near your house? Let me know!
Comments
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I've seen a few bats before while fishing into dusk on the River Lea and a few times night fishing on the same lake in Essex.
As soon as the light started fading you'd see them zipping about catching bugs, if you stood still they'd fly really close, a great experience!
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I love bats - you can do so much with them - you can even play cricket or table tennis !
Just joking - they are under appreciated - they reduce the numbers of biting insects by a huge amount - each, catching and eating up to 1200 mosquito sized bugs per hour !!
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My son at about 6 years old rocked up with a bat clinging to his jumper!! Lord only knows where it came fromโฆ I got the " I found it, can we keep it " No son we can not ๐๐
If you do a post on toads or snakes or seagulls I have another storyโฆ. He is still an animal lover 40 years later.
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Haha, I think I'd get on well with your son @vikingqueen I'm the same. ๐
There's something very peaceful about seeing (and hearing) bats flitting around overhead isnt there @Wozza it's good to know they're catching all those pesky mozzies too, as @Wibbles has mentioned. ๐
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Yeah it was great, they get super close though and you have to keep very still and be confident their echolocation will stop them smacking into you ๐
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I sometime see bats. Even had a few come inside in late summer.
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I adore bats,I've even got them tattooed. Wonderful little things. As children we use to lie on the sand dunes at our caravan at dusk and whistle to see them dip down towards us.
They are so important to eco systems,even their poo in some countries. I think some don't realise how important they are ,but also important in their own right.
I could watch them all night, I bought night vision binoculars just for that very reason.
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Ah I love bats! I used to be able to see them from my bedroom window in one of my student houses. I couldn't work out what they were at first because this was London and bats didn't even cross my mind in a busy part of the city. But then I got a really good glimpse of one darting back and forth eating all the mozzies from the gardens out the back and was so excited. It was lovely to sit and watch them flying about in the evenings. Really cool creatures!
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I learnt a bit about bats recently. I'm kind of looking for a house and I'm into old houses. One of the adverts had something written in it, "compliance disclosure: bat roost in loft". I wanted to know what that was all about and it turns out if you have bats roosting you're not allowed to remove them and you have to inform potential buyers of present bat roosts when you sell the house. I then ended up going down a rabbit hole and reading all about them and found them really quite cute ๐
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Would like to report that I saw a bat yesterday! Went for a little walk in the local park around dusk and was just telling the person I with that it was bat appreciation month when one popped out from the trees. Perfect timing!
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How do you tattoo a bat ?
Don't they tend to struggle a bit ?
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I often find them in the house
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You find bats in the house @jonf!? I'd be terrified. Do you know how they are getting in?
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they used to come in through the bathroom extractor fans and fly in since the farm buildings up the road were converted.
To be honest they are a nuisance at times and the old farm barn should never have been granted permission to be converted.
Maybe it is time for me to sell up and move
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Is there no way to keep them out @jonf? Seems a shame to have to consider moving. I'm terrified of flying things so I wouldn't last long!
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I have seen a bat get through the smallest of gaps between slates
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Oh wow, that's scary. I wonder if there are any bat detterents?
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Bats are endangered
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I was thinking of an ultrasonic device to deter them but I've just read that that's against the law! I honestly didn't know, but now I do ๐
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they do not like lavender bushes or eucalyptus.
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