British Bats
Watching and Studying Bats
Despite Bats being secretive night time animals, it is possible for you to easily spot and find bats. Although detailed observation is difficult, it is still rewarding to see bats flying around as they undertake their daily activities. To be walking in the cool twilight of a summer day and watch bats emerging from their roosts and zigzag off into the dark is a spine tingling sight. In this chapter we will discuss the best ways to observe bats, the use of bat detectors, and how basic scientific research and surveying is conducted.
Watching Bats
It is not difficult to find bats to simply watch. young can easily improve your chances of seeing bats by looking in the right types of places at the right times of day. No special equipment is needed, except maybe a torch as it will probably be dark when you return home. One of the easiest places to find bats is along waterways. Lakes, ponds, rivers and canals are all favorite hunting places for a variety of bat species. The open water also helps you to spot the bats, as against more cluttered environments it can be extremely tricky to pick out bats. Perhaps the commonest species seen over water is the Daubenton's Bat, which flies in regular circles or 'beats' over the water. Try to find somewhere which is not too exposed, where there is vegetation along the banks, but the environment is not too cluttered. If you are lucky you will soon see bats. Bats tend to prefer still or slowly running water rather than fast rivers and streams.
You may not even have to travel far to see bats. A walk around your local neighborhood May suffice. The Common Pipistrelle is the most common bat in Britain and can be found in most areas. It is happy even in urban environments, which means that sometime city dwellers can find it easier to find bats than people living in the countryside. It can be seen flying around lampposts, or following its regular beat around gardens. Lampposts, with their shining lights attract insects, which inevitably attract the bat. It is probably easier to see bats in urban environments or around housing estates than in the countryside, because the environment is more varied, and because the it is less clutters. In thick woodland it can be impossible to spot bats through the thick canopy of trees. Bats can often be few and far between in open and exposed countryside, but if you do have to look here, it is best to try woodland clearings or woodland edges. These are both preferred hunting habitats for woodland living bats.
You also need to choose the best times at which to go bat watching. Although bats have a reputation as being nighttime hunters, they are in fact quite lazy! They don't spend the whole night flying about, mostly they emerge at dusk and feed for at most one or two hours before resting for most of the night. They either rest using temporary roosts close to their feeding grounds, or return to their 'home' roost. After resting, they will often have a second feeding bout before dawn breaks, after which they will retreat for the duration of the day. Therefore the best times of day to bats is usually in the first 1 or 2 hours following dusk. Any longer is normally a waste of time, as the bats will have got tired of hunting and be resting. This is probably quite a relief to some prospective bat watchers, who maybe have visions of having to stay awake all night or rise at 3 am to get a glimpse of a bat. Luckily bat watchers can be as lazy as the bats themselves! Unless you want to see there late night feeding session as well! One exception to this though is in Autumn, when the bats feed for much longer periods, sometimes throughout the night in preparation for winter. They also use the Autumn months to explore new places and so can be seen in some unexpected locations where they wouldn't normally be found. Bats will also alter their activity patterns depending on the weather, delaying feeding if there is bad weather and maybe emerging later than normal.
Of course you should go looking for bats only if the weather is suitable, bats will only be seen if it is calm and fine. Bats dislike cold, wind and rain and will not go hunting in these conditions. Calm summer evenings are usually the best times to try to 'bat hunt'. A clear sky, or a full moon make the sky lighter, making it easier to see bats.
Different bat species emerge at different times. Although most species will wait until darkness has fallen. some such as the ? will emerge before it has gone dark. If you are watching bats emerging from a roosting site, then it pays to get there in plenty of time, as the bats will not wait for you if you are late!
One of the best ways to observe bats is to find some of their roosting sites. Large colonies of bats are often well known of in local communities, and easily found. A local bat groups will often be willing to tell you roosts where bats can be observed without disturbing them Watching bats as they emerge to feed can be a rewarding experience.
Some people recommend that you take a flashlight when going to watch bats, and that it does not disturb the bat is you point the beam at it while it flies or feeds. Although this often does not seem to disturb the bats, and they will continue feeding along their beats. I think it is best not to do anything that could upset the bat in any way. Leave the torch for finding you way home, not illuminating the bat! It is often just as easy to see the bat without shining a light on it anyway.
One of the best ways to watch bats, and also to learn a lot about them is to join an organized bat walk. These are often run but local bat groups, and are often advertised in local newspapers or in local libraries. The people organizing the walk will know where bats can be definitely seen, and will also be a mine of information about bats and their way of life. They may also take along bat detectors and other aids to help study bats. Also there will probably be other like minded people who are interested in learning about bats.
Unfortunately it is almost impossible to identify individual species without the use of specialized equipment. It can be very disappointing to see a bat but not to be able to know for definite which species it is. It is possible to hazard a guess just on sight, and many people claim to be able to identify bats correctly just form their flight patterns and size, but this is very difficult to do, and these claims should be treat with caution. Althogh pipistrelles are fairly easy to spot, it is very difficult to differentiate between the several Myotis species. To correctly decipher which species is which a bat detector should be used.
Researching Bats
Despite the large numbers of bat species present in the world, the amount of research conducted on them is poor. Bats are secretive and difficult to study, which has hindered research into their biology and behaviour. Most species of bats live in the tropics, where little scientific research is done, most being concentrated in the richer temperate areas. Apart from the species of pollinating bats, most bats are not economically important, so research into them is not a priority. Despite this these are small numbers of dedicated bat researchers in universities in this country and across the world. They are beginning to shed light on the different behaviors bats show, and new technology is becoming available to help them. Areas of active research include echolocation, bat genetics, and bat diseases.
Most monitoring and surveying of bats in this country is conducted by the local bat groups and the Bat Conservation Trust. These mostly rely on volunteers who record the presence of bat and their roosts. This data is vitally important when trying to conserve bats and study their populations.
Catching Bats
Only people with an appropriate home office license for legitimate research are allowed to catch bats. These people must have a good reason for wanting to catch bats and must be properly trained. The most common technique is to use a triangular shaped net into which the bats fly. This can be used near the entrance of the roots where bats are known to fly. Another method which I have seen is to place a long net along a stretch of known hunting ground, typically near the banks of a pond. These nets resemble badminton nets when erected and the bats fly into them. The string used for the nets needs to be very fine otherwise the bats will detect them using their echolocation calls. Of course catching the bats does not harm them, if they are handled correctly. Catching bats allows important measurements to be taken, such as weight, which allows the general health of bat populations to be studied.
Ringing Bats
Most people now that birds can be ringed, but not many realize that be also be ringed. In birds the ring is placed on the leg and carries a unique number. Because bats are smaller than birds, and have more delicate legs which could be damaged by such leg rings, a different type of 'ring' is used. A small aluminum ring is placed over the forewing, and then folded into place. These weigh very little so do not hinder the bats in flight. Ringing is very useful as it allows individuals to be tracked and their life spans to be studied. How far bats migrate, how mobile they are between roosts and bat population dynamics can all be studied wit the use of ringing.
I have also
heard of bats being marked with da-glow bands, which allows bat to be
followed in the dark. Presumably the researchers followed the bright
streak as it moveed thorugh the night sky! It is useful to know where
bats go and which habitats they use. As of yet radio-tracking is not
yet possible in bats. Bats are very small and weigh little. Radio-transmitters,
and the batteries which need to be carried in order to power them are
heavy and big, and impractical for use in bats. However technology is
always progressing , and transmitters are becoming smaller and smaller.
Maybe one day in the near furutre it will be possible to follow bats
movements electronically. Such an advacne would be a great step forward
for bat behaviuural research, and would help to answer many questions
which remain about bats lives.