Walking with Bats

Sunset at the bat walk

On the 17th of June, my friend Miseria, my mother and I went to Berry Head National Nature Reserve to take part in a bat walk, which was organised by the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust. The event began at 8:15pm, but we arrived early, so we decided to walk along the coastline and take some photos of the surrounding area beforehand.

The view of the coastline

Guillemots

My mother

At around 8pm, we went to the visitors centre to meet with the guides and the rest of the group before the beginning of the event. We got to see into a bat cave on a night vision camera, whilst we had a talk about horseshoe bats (greater & lesser), including where they live, what they eat, how they behave (they're apparently the only species of microbats that hang upside down!). We were also given the opportunity to ask questions. 

The main guide told us lots of information about bat conservation as well, including the fact that all bats are protected in the UK. Apparently, there is a really large population of horseshoe bats in Devon, comparatively, so it's an important roosting area for them. We were also given information leaflets about both species of bats, which went into a little more detail into some things. 

After telling the group that we would probably see greater horseshoe, lesser horseshoe, and pipistrelle bats, the guides explained that we'd be listening to the bat echolocation ultrasound through "bat detectors". Each type of bat emits a different frequency of ultrasound and so the detectors are tuned into one type at a time. Although Horseshoe bats do use echolocation, they use it in a different way to any other type of bat, using their famous "horseshoe"-shaped noses to disperse the sound in a different shape and direction than other bats do. 

Following this talk, we headed to a nearby cow field in order to look for some dung beetles, as this is what horseshoe bats mainly feed on. The Coast and Countryside Trust manages the fields and hedgerows in the local area, so they can make sure that the wildlife have the best environment possible. Also, the grass is kept a reasonable length because of the grazing cows, so there's no need to bring potentially harmful machinery into the fields.

The friendly & curious cows

A dung beetle in a specimen pot

As soon as we arrived in the field, the cows approached us and we got to pet them for a little bit, which was a nice bonus! Then the two assistant guides put on gloves and went to gather some cow dung and started looking for beetles. Whilst this was happening, the other guide told us more about bat habitats, land management, the types of beetles (and other things) that the bats eat, and the life cycles of those things.

Once the two assistants had found some beetles, they took them around the group in specimen pots and showed us them individually, up close. They also answered any questions we had, too; it was really interesting to learn more about the bats and beetles. 

Next, we walked to a path/road near the hedgerows where we were going to watch the bats. We were told some last minute extra information about bats and given another chance to ask questions. We were then told the guidelines for how to behave once we got to the area with the bats, in order both not to disturb them and also to get the best result out of the bat-watching.

We all went and sat in a line, on the grass verge of a roadside, with hedgerows bordering the front and back of us. The guides gave some of us, including Miseria, bat detectors. They set some of them to detect pipistrelles and some to set greater horseshoes and explained that later during the evening they would set all of them to greater horseshoes, as the pipistrelles would probably stop appearing then.

Miseria's bat detector was set to pipistrelles and they began to appear almost immediately, flying in and out of the hedgerows around 1-2 metres above the ground. Their ultrasound frequency sounded like high-pitched clicks/beeps and they flew really close to us, almost bumping into us sometimes!

After around half an hour, the guides changed the bat detector frequency to the greater horseshoes and they started to appear around 10 minutes later. They had a completely different sound to them; much deeper and more like a pulsing sound, compared to the clicking. They flew very close to the ground and swooped upwards towards the end of each flight pass (it seemed like they did, at least). Even after the detector had been set to greater horseshoes, there were still a few pipistrelles flying back and forth too.

The bat watching concluded at around 10:30pm. Altogether, we saw approximately 20-25 bats that evening, which was apparently really good because sometimes they don't see any at all! It was a such an informative and interesting evening and seeing so many bats was wonderful!

Miseria, my mother, and I stayed around the area for a little longer, as Miseria and I wanted to take some more photos. We left at nearly 11pm in the end, haha.

The Moon

Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust are running bat walks at Berry Head until late August, so if you're interested in going to one, check their website bat walks page for more information. (You don't need to be a member, but you do need to book a place in advance!).