The bats are back!!!

Just popped outside and ... two: TWO!!!!

They are one of the reasons I adore my location

Didn't realise I'd missed them until I saw them just now.

 

Yeah, I think we know what you mean.

Have you got your own belfry, or are we talking cricket?

 

I havnt noticed any here yet , will keep my on the watch out

Spruce

 

Oh dear... I really can't bring myself to like them .. so sorry . They have always terrified me .. sad person , I know

 

Definately *not* cricket (although I did once have a friendship with Bernard Julian but, he was never a fully fledged 'bat' )

But, these are not "vampires" ... these are .. pipistrelles!! They are *the* acrobats of the night! (Would it help if I mentioned ... they eat the not-so-favourable-insects? That their place in the ecology is ... crucial?)

Well, I remain firm ... ... love them!

 

Magic!! so pleased for you Mum I only had two sightings last year so not sure if I have a solid bat population local to me, but I'll be on the look out.

 

I'm really jealous Mum...I love bats!

 

Keep looking, Cherub ... mine have only just surfaced/I've only just noticed them, so you may still be good to go on the bat hunt front

Fern4 I've discovered, it's all about timing: it is that pocket of time between the sun setting and the night beginning, that you get your chance to see them - and, oh, what a wonderful sight they are! (Can you tell I don't buy into the "yuk" factor? ). This forum post will be my first "record" of when they first appear. I do have a memory of speaking to a dear friend on my mobile, in the garden, when I first saw them in the season. But, that is 2 years back, and no record of the date (coz I hadn't found GC at that point ). This is my formal notification that they are out there (once more) and active!

Only yesterday I noted how the ants/midgies/mozzies/bees/ daisies (yes daisies!) had suddenly made an appearance in my garden. Perhaps the bats had too, and I was too blind to have noticed?

Many moons ago, I used to have to walk home from my after school job at the local theatre, and pass a medieval gateway. I do recall seeing bats, very late at night/early morning and feeling very freaked out by them (bought into the tosh of movie mania ) When I moved here and realised they were on my doorstep; well, it was love at first sight ... it was too, too many years between the two episodes, so, an appreciation was deserved!

Then, I learned they ate moths! So, now I can read, in bed, at night, during the warmer months, without having my wardrobe eaten to bits plus conserving a protected species at the same time: double luck!

 

Yes I agree totally....they are a wonderful sight! I thought only once that I saw one quite close to where I live but it it was such a fleeting glimpse that I may have been mistaken.

I've definitely seen some in the Lake District and like you said it was in that pocket of time at dusk when they swoop and dart about catching insects. Amazing!

 

Mum... try throwing a tennis ball up high in the air and watch them home in on it

 

No need My left hand "neighbour" is ... the local tennis court

Free balls, Ozzy!!!

 

You can tell what i do in my spare time can't you

 

You can tell what most of my knocks on the door are for, can't you!

 

I think that would drive me mad especially if i was hit by a succession of tennis balls while gardening!

 

I was only driven 'mad' when the local yoofs decided it would be great 'entertainment' (for them!), to lob conkers hither and thither - forgetting that tennis rackets leave their own 'mark'

Any 'succession' of tennis balls will be quietly, and quickly, ingested by Ozzy, while I garden.

(Only backfired last weekend, when I 'assumed' the knock on the door was a 'tennis-ball-delinquent' ... but turned out to be the 'fuzz' with an impromptu message). Ozzy would have eaten them too