Awesome

[Amoeba]

Tonight I saw bats swooping about and chirping over the canal - no idea what type of bat but it was very small. There were a few of them, maybe three, four, five? Two almost bumped into me at the same time but did a 180 degree turn when they came close.

Later I found on the pavement a big black beetle. I swear I haven't seen a beetle this big since I was in Turkey. I thought those beetles you see in this country with the pincers were big, this was nearly twice the mass I'd estimate (same length but way bigger size). Its legs were so chunky. It was just kind of waddling feebly... I hope it was okay.

Nice to see something interesting that isn't a bird for a change... nor dead.

[dampflippers]

The bats are quite likely to have been daubenton's bats, but I think more species will feed over water like this.

Lots of info on the Bat Conservation Trust website. Bat Conservation Trust

[mycoranger]

The bats are more likely to be one of the pipistrelle bats. They feed from about head height to treetop level and actively chase small insects through the air giving them a typical twisty turny flight pattern. They often feed over and around the margins of water bodies like canals and ponds because that's where small insects like midges are found. They can fly close to you if they are concentrating on a midge but when they echolocate you they'll turn away.

Daubenton's bats do feed over still or very slowly moving water but they glean their insects directly from the water using their big feet. This means they have to fly very, very close to the surface of the water, looking like little hovercraft zooming back and forwards.

[dampflippers]

Interesting! Do they ever catch in the air like other bats?

[Amoeba]

Thanks both of you. It probably is pipistrelle because of the way it was flying - not low, "twisty turny" would be a good description.

I have only rarely ever seen bats in this country, but this was the first time I've ever heard them. I thought they were out of human hearing range? Or is that just some of its vocalisations?

[loripo]

There are some interesting comments on this thread:
Hearing Bats

You must have excellent hearing

[Amoeba]

Thanks for the link. Hm... maybe it is because my hearing range is kind of off-tune compared with other humans. In school we tested our hearing in physics - started at lower frequencies and slowly went up. We were to raise our hands when we could hear the tone.

I was the last to raise my hand when going through the lower frequencies, I couldn't hear as low as others - and when going through the upper frequencies, everyone else put their hand down and I could still hear it so I left mine up. Teacher stopped changing the frequency and started talking about the experiment, I was left there with my hand still up! And nobody else could hear it...

So, not exactly better hearing. If it was lower frequencies I'd be hopeless!