As we arrived here at Langford on Saturday evening in strong wind and heavy rain, we were somewhat worried about how our bat and moth night was going to pan out! As you may have guessed, this is definitely not the best of conditions in which to look for our nocturnal wildlife! Dark skies and rain continued as our guests arrived at 7.30, however our attending bat experts Derek and Phil provided the group with an excellent introductory talk in the comfort of the office whilst the rain came down.
We then set out onto site and as dusk began to fall, the rain stopped and wind dropped just in time for us to pick up our first noctule bat on the bat detectors, around the Phase 1 scrub. Noctules are our largest bat species here in the UK and also one of the first to come out as the light fades. They have a very distinctive sound on the detector, often described as a slow 'chip-chop' sound, best heard at a frequency of around 18-25kHz. Our first individual was feeeding over the top of the Phase 1 scrub.
Around the corner and onto the public footpath things really picked up. This is a very sheltered spot and proved excellent for bats with more noctules and our first common pipistrelles of the evening. Common pipistrelles are best heard on detectors at a peak frequency of around 45kHz. They are our among our smallest bats and perhaps the most likely species that will be encountered. Their call sounds different to that of the noctule through the detector, being a much faster series of clicks.
The next species we encountered was the brown long-eared bat, a medium sized species with, as it's name suggests, large protruding ears. This species echolocates at a peak of around 35kHz and once again, sounds different to the previous two species, emitting a fast series of quiet clicks.
And finally, the last species we recorded was the Daubenton's bat. This is a distinctive species as it feeds over water and can often be seen skimming over the top of water bodies, gleaning insects off the surface. They have a two-tone colouration, unlike other UK bat species, with reddish-brown upperparts and pale underparts. Daubenton's bats can best be heard at a peak frequency of 45-50kHz and sound like a machine gun, emitting a very fast series of clicks in 5-10 second bursts.
After a successful bat walk, the group then returned to the office for hot chocolate and biscuits, courtesy of Michael and Ruth (thanks!) and a good display of moths. We had around 20 species on show including some beautiful specimens of dusky thorn, scalloped oak, oak hook-tip, old lady, large wainscot and broad-bordered yellow underwing.
And finally, many thanks to everyone involved with running the evening - Roseanna, our Community Engagement Officer who organised the event, Derek and Phil, our bat experts, Stuart for doing some moth trapping for us and to all our volunteers who attended the event!