New #blog - Wild Stars of #autumnwatch - Bat-Tastic! - Arne - Arne

28 Oct 2016

Bat-Tastic at RSPB Arne by RSPB's Chris Baker (all photos kindly supplied by the Dorset Bat Group)

Twelve of the UK’s 17 breeding bat species are found at RSPB Arne nature reserve: barbastelle, Bechstein’s, Brandt’s, brown long-eared, common pipistrelle, Daubenton’s, Leisler’s, Natterer’s, noctule, serotine, soprano pipistrelle, and whiskered bat.

(Photo 1: Brown Long eared bats Â© Nick Tomlinson)

Brandt’s bat, a small, shaggy creature was recorded at RSPB Arne for the first time during a bioblitz this summer – the first time this bat has been recorded at any RSPB reserve.
Brandt’s is very similar to the whiskered bat, also found at the reserve, and was caught in a harp trap during the biological recording blitz.

Harp traps look a little like the exposed innards of an upright piano, with a collection bag at the bottom; they appear cruel but are in fact benign. Flying bats either bump into strings and fall into the collection bag unharmed, or bank sharply to avoid them, lose lift and drop into the bag. All bats are safely released after recording.

Also captured in a harp trap was a brown long-eared bat, sometimes known as the whispering bat, whose fortunes have declined sharply as barns have been converted into homes. At RSPB Arne, they breed in bat boxes and occasionally roost in the loft above the reserve’s office.

Common pipistrelle, soprano pipistrelle, noctule and Natterer’s bats were all recorded in boxes around the reserve during the bioblitz. The two pipistrelles are the commonest bats seen in the UK, their fast, jerky flight a familiar sight in many suburban gardens. Common pipistrelles weight about the same as a two pence coin but can eat as many as 3,000 insects in a night. Noctule bats are one of our largest and one of the first to appear in the evenings. Natterer’s bat is distinguished by its ability to fly very slowly, slow enough to take spiders from their webs.

“All these are what we would expect,” says Chris Dieck, Ecology Supervisor for RSPB Arne’s Ecological Services. “It may be that they go out on the heaths because the heaths are stuffed with insects, but you are more likely to find them on the edges of woodlands, and places like that.”

Other bats to have been recorded at RSPB Arne are Bechstein’s, barbastelle, Daubenton’s, Leisler’s and serotine. Serotine bats breed almost exclusively in buildings or caves. Daubenton’s is frequently associated with water. Bechstein’s is usually found in old deciduous woodland, a habitat preference shared by the barbastelle.

Leisler’s bat is another forest species, in the UK and Ireland, where it is fairly common, it is often found in buildings, sometimes seen flying low along roads and lanes, and taking insects from around street lights in urban areas.