Winter visitor

[Liz]

We were really surprised when we got up this morning, to find a bat flying around inside the cottage - you can imagine how excited the cats were! We spent some time removing the cats from the room - they were not impressed as obviously the bat had come to play and why shouldn't they do just that!

It is a pipestrelle, a sweet little thing, and seems unhurt and wide awake. I can't imaging what has disturbed it from it's winter hibernation in the roof (there's a colony living there) unless it was the very cold weather we had.

I rang the Bat Conservation Trust first thing and they gave me the telephone number of someone 15 miles away who rescues bats, I'll be taking it there later this morning. Apparently, because it has come out of hibernation, it will need looking after for the rest of the winter. In the spring they will return it here for release and hopefully it will return to its own colony.

It is so heartwarming to experience first hand the concern and care that people are prepared to put into helping wildlife, it will be no mean task to look after this little one for 3 -4 months. I will find out how they they will go about it when I deliver Batty to his new winter lodgings.... yes, he's already got a name.... and I'll keep you all posted.

[Brenda]

How kind you are, Liz! We had a bat in our house a very long time ago, and nothing would do for my two boys but that we must catch it and take it to Science North, a science centre in Sudbury, 90 miles to the west of North Bay where we were living at the time. The science centre had a 'swap shop,' where kids could take in a nature object they'd found and trade it for something else of their choice. My son, about 12 at the time, put on every article of clothing he could manage, plus his bicycle helmet, soccer shin pads, gloves, etc (because we were fearful of a bite), and wobbled on a chair that wobbled on his bed so that he could reach up to the top of the window blind, where our Batty was hanging, and tap it into a large plastic tub. That mission accomplished, off we went to the science centre, only to discover that the swap shop didn't accept living things. But the young man who was working there that day was so good with my boys: he took them, and the bat, outside, and gave them a really good look at it with all kinds of information on bats in general. They were pretty happy about that, and Batty got his freedom back.

[gloria townsin]

Having experienced a bat in the sitting room one evening at Bryher I know how they zoom round. Jane, previous owner, told me that there were always bats in the loft, so I'm wondering what's happened to them with the roof work going on at Bryher. Hadn't thought about that previously. Hopefully they would have been disturbed before hibernation with all the work going on and given Bryher a wide berth this winter.

[Kath Mulligan]

Haven't seen the two that swoop down and around our garden at dusk every evening for several weeks now, so am presuming, and hoping, that they are safely tucked up in hibernation somewhere. I suspect they may be lodging in the roof space of a neighbour about 3 doors up from us as that is the direction they always swoop from.

Liz, what a meanie you are, not allowing your cats to enjoy their new playmate!! Seriously, it's a lucky little pipistrelle that it chose your home to visit and that you have found someone to care for it over the rest of the winter. I'm not too sure I would like one in my living room, they startle me when they zoom past so close to your head. They've often dive-bombed me when I have been out in the garden in the evening.

Gloria, I should imagine that your colony at Bryher has probably found somewhere a bit quieter and more peaceful for their winter habitation this year.

Kath

[Liz]

The rescue centre was amazing - not just bats but any wildlife in trouble. There were 4 swans in the garden, rescued in the icy weather.

I was told that Batty was very small and probably quite young. Maybe he was born late in the season and hadn't put on enough body fat to survive the winter and woke up for a snack! They will be feeding him on the insides of mealworms, from a paintbrush - yuk....... not sure I would fancy that job.

I can ring any time to check on his progress and if he survives until the spring they'll contact me and I can bring him back here for release. He was very wriggly when he was examined (a good sign) and there were no apparent injuries, so fingers crossed for Batty!

[jane jackson]

How wonderful Liz. It'll be really interesting for you to find out how Batty does through the rest of the winter. How lovely too that you found the right people to care for him ~ perhaps they'd like your moles too! I've only seen one mole and that unfortunately was dead but it was so beautiful and velvety and much smaller than I expected. We certainly don't want them to visit here though as our lawn is very small and the molehills were a problem on our last lawn. I wasn't even keen on them in the fields as they seemed to choose the flatest, best parts of the fields. I've seen one very small bat close up which had fallen from the church roof and a local lady looked after it and I think it survived, perhaps something broke its fall before it rached the floor. They had to make a special wooden cover for the hymn books as they used to get covered in bat droppings!

I used to see bats flying at dusk in Berkhamsted in a dip in the country lane where I had one of my horse fields and it was quite magical but I don't think I'd be so keen if they were inside the house with not so much room for manouvre.

[adesmith]

What a fab story Liz! I am fascinated by bats. We have one that swoops around our windows and back garden during the summer months and sometimes we just go into the garden and watch him flying around. Did anyone else used to hear the old wives tale about bats getting tangled in your hair? We used to go in my Nan's caravan when we were small and if we found ourselves walking down county lanes she would always make us put our hoods up on our coats - I think she was probably teasing us though! The last bat I saw was a dead one in my classroom at school. I have no idea where it had come from. When I was at university I had a summer job for a couple of years working at Castell Coch and there were loads of bats flying around there. We found one once that didnt look to healthy and when we rang the bat people they said put it on a narrow ledge off the floor. We thought that this was a bit mean just to leave it but they said it would just crawl to the edge, drop off and fly away. That is exactly what it did! I really hope that the little bat survives Liz and what fun it will be if you are able to release him at the end of the winter!

[Liz]

We were really surprised when we got up this morning, to find a bat flying around inside the cottage - you can imagine how excited the cats were! We spent some time removing the cats from the room - they were not impressed as obviously the bat had come to play and why shouldn't they do just that!

It is a pipestrelle, a sweet little thing, and seems unhurt and wide awake. I can't imaging what has disturbed it from it's winter hibernation in the roof (there's a colony living there) unless it was the very cold weather we had.

I rang the Bat Conservation Trust first thing and they gave me the telephone number of someone 15 miles away who rescues bats, I'll be taking it there later this morning. Apparently, because it has come out of hibernation, it will need looking after for the rest of the winter. In the spring they will return it here for release and hopefully it will return to its own colony.

It is so heartwarming to experience first hand the concern and care that people are prepared to put into helping wildlife, it will be no mean task to look after this little one for 3 -4 months. I will find out how they they will go about it when I deliver Batty to his new winter lodgings.... yes, he's already got a name.... and I'll keep you all posted.

Just an upate on Batty, or should I say Battina as it turns out that he's a she!

The rescue centre contacted me a couple of days ago to say that she was thriving and ready for collection as soon as we saw bats around the cottage.
We collected her yesterday, she's quite tame and we watched her being fed by Megan the owner of the centre.

http://cuanhouse.org.uk

The act of beheading the mealworms and squeezing out the insides on to a paint brush gave me the shivers (I shut my eyes and hoped John was watching in case we had to do it again later) and Battina proceeded to devour 19 mealworms before she squeeked loudly and turned her head away to indicate that she was full. Megan had been doing this, getting on for three months as well as exercising her daily (how do you exercise a bat!) she is so dedicated to healing and releasing all the animals brought in no matter how insignificant or undesirable some folks might think they are and she is open to receive casualties 24 hrs a day!

She had just fed two baby wood pigeons which had fallen from their nest I couldn't help wondering what most of the farming community would think about that!

Getting back to Battina - as soon as dusk descended I took her outside, held my hand up high, and after a couple of turns to orientate herself she was away - one very lucky bat.....

[gloria townsin]

What a lovely end to the tale Liz. As you say a very lucky little bat!

[jane jackson]

How exciting Liz and what a great end to the story of Battina ~ she was certainly a very lucky little bat as Gloria said

[Barbara]

Nice to know Battina is busy being batty out there where she belongs - lovely story, Liz.