August Evening Bat stroll from Montefiore Woodland – was our most successful yet!
Shirley (Kent Bat Group) pre-walk talk
Shirley pre Bat Walk talk
Common Pipistrelle pups – rehabilitating pre their return to the wild
Our final Evening Bat Stroll for this year was last Friday 25th August and I’m pleased to report it was our most successful yet!
A beautiful summer’s evening stroll from the Woodland was enjoyed by at least forty visitors of all ages from young ones to wise ones! We were very grateful that Shirley Thomson from Kent Bat Group was able to join and lead our walk and were thrilled she had brought along two furry little friends. A rare treat indeed, being able to see Common Pipistrelles at such close proximity. (These two young Pipistrelles are being cared for by Kent Bat Group with the intention of hopefully returning them to the wild). Once again Shirley gave us an interesting and informative talk about the bats in our local area and the work of Kent Bat Group. Our walk began at Montefiore Woodland at about 8:15pm and much to the delight of everyone, we were treated to two sightings within almost minutes! We were all able to see and hear (via the Bat Detectors) between in excess of 15+ different Common Pipistrelles on the wing as they were hunting their insect prey in our local area. Bat calls are normally beyond the range of human hearing and are used to build up a sound picture of their surroundings thus enabling them to wing their way through the dark night hunting the tiniest of insects, but with the aid of the detectors we were all able to spot these delightful, mysterious, nocturnal creatures. This stroll turned out to be one of the best walks we have experienced during the four years we have been organising these events!
This was a free event however we were grateful for the donations given during these summer evening strolls and are pleased to report that we will be forwarding a cheque for £60 to Shirley for the Kent Bat Group. (NB Our bat sightings have already been uploaded to the National Sunset Bat Survey).
Our thanks to everyone who came along and made this a successful and enjoyable evening!
Enjoy the final days of summer + we hope you may be able to join us at one or more of our monthly work parties, held on the first Saturday of each month.
