4 September 2024
One fifth of all mammal species are bats. They’re amazing. We say ‘As blind as a bat’ but their eyesight is said to be 30X better than ours.
A second visit from John of Notts Bat Group. John told me the eyesight thing.
Always great to see him and to load him with tea and cake. This time our conversation covered research into the unique stridulation of moths wings that gives each species an individual sound signature.
He brought the results of our second bat detector session. He’d first fixed the detector by George’s Pond. This time beneath our copper beech tree.
The results were just as fascinating as our first session.
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Serotine
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Species of the genus Myotis probably including Daubentons and Whiskered
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Leisler's
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Noctule
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Brown Long Eared
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Common pipistrelle
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Soprano pipistrelle
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The top line this session was the ‘probable’ serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus). Very rare! A big brown bat (37cm 15” wingspan) that typically lives in the south of England. It’s’ diet is flies, moths and beetles – particularly chafers and dung beetles. It is capable of both catching insects in flight and plucking them from the ground or on vegetation. Serotines are also known to feed near lights where moths have been attracted.
They give birth to a single pup in the early autumn.
Just in time for my new bat nursery boxes!
It is interesting but not surprising to see that moths are important in the serotine’s diet - they are important to most bats.
Last times revelation was that our garden is home to brown long-eared bats (Plecotus auritus). They were present again during this second survey.
Dark arches (Apamea monoglypha) moth claimed top spot as most consumed moth by the brown long-eared bat in 2014-2015 in a Sussex study. The dark arches is a common moth in the garden whose caterpillars thrive in uncut grass.
Don’t mow it mister! You’ll help the moths that help the bats..
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