Chip - chop a bat is on our radar

Our only flying mammals, bats have equally intrigued and scared us through the centuries, and Kait Leeming is firmly on the “loving bats” team.

It’s a late spring evening and the resident population of finches are chirruping their lullabies to the dozing squirrels. In the Mere Sands Wood car park, a diverse crew of Wildlife Trust members, visitors and some well-behaved but enthusiastic children are assembling ready for an adventurein the dark.

Armed with an array of ultrasonic detection equipment and expertly guided by Charlie Liggett, our expert from the South Lancashire Bat Group and David Edwards, one of the amazing volunteer team at Mere Sands Wood, we are off to explore the busy nightlife in this leafy retreat. We are looking for some of the most amazing little creatures we have in the UK, bats.

As we head into the woods via the south path, there it is, the first bat of the evening. This tiny, darting, fly-catcher is a common pipistrelle.

Amazingly, Charlie tells us, the biggest roost of pipistrelles in the UK is over 2,000 strong. We don’t have quite that many here at Mere Sands Wood, but they are certainly common and easily identifiable on a night like this.

Their satsuma-sized bodies and erratic but agile flight patterns make them obvious as a pipistrelle, but it is only with a bat detector in hand to hear the rapid call of these little guys that we can confidently identify them: the common pipistrelle has a high-frequency soprano call.

The whispering excitement that builds amongst the group every time a new bat is picked up on the detectors is electric. All eyes begin to scan the skies as Charlie talks to us about that particular call and what kind of bat it is likely to be. There are 18 species of bats in the UK and we are lucky to have several of those at Mere Sands Wood.

As we reach the water’s edge the call changes to a soft “plock” and we begin to scan the treeline at the other side of the mere. A Daubentons bat swoops down, scooping insects right from the surface of the water. It’s so humbling to see these majestic night-dwellers dance across the mere.

As we step deeper into the woods it’s my turn to get excited, a first for me - a whispering bat roost.

Here, where the old tower hide became unsafe for our birdwatching visitors, the long-eared bats have moved in. This spring, thanks to hardworking staff and volunteers, the former hide has been converted into a giant bat box for these elusive little critters.

With 25-30 long-eared bats now in residence and numbers growing with the season, this is an unexpected gift from a hide which may otherwise have had to be demolished. This is our end point and time to return to the classroom for our goodbyes - the woods though have one last surprise for us. One of the detectors picks up a faint “chip-chop”. We all home in on that direction and pick up the pace in the dark.

“Chip-chop” - it’s coming towards us.

“Chip-chop” - louder still. Just as we reach the end of our walk, here it is overhead – a noctule bat. The largest bat in the UK at a whopping 28g, the noctule’s flight path is smoother than many of the others seen tonight. Roosting near the fallen willow at the edge of the meadow, the noctule likes to feed in open countryside, feasting on the insects that enjoy wildflowers and wild hedgerows. What a way to finish the evening.

Twenty adults, six kids, five different types of bats, and a couple of jealous mallards who were disappointed to find we weren’t there to deliver their after-dark feast. One amazing experience in the woods.