A warm Sunday evening found 10 members of Friends of Pelaw Wood and the Durham Bat Group exploring the wood for evidence of bat activity.
Our bat boxes were somewhat disappointing as there were no householders in residence.
The walk, however, was to grow more exciting as a roost of Noctule bats was discovered deep in the woods from their social calls to each other (these calls are of relatively low frequency and therefore audible to the human ear). A total of 51 Noctules was counted, leaving the roost to go feeding on insects.
After observing this, we used bat detectors (which pick up the bats’ echolocation calls) to locate bats on the wing. Five bat species were definitely identified – Noctule, Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Daubenton’s and a Myotis species (probably Whiskered). We moved to the riverside and watched Daubenton’s bats skimming the surface for insects, as well as Pipistrelles flitting around our heads! A memorable evening, many thanks to the Durham Bat Group for making it possible.