Help with bats

[LucKy]

We love seeing the bats flying around our property at dusk each evening both front and back of the house but can't tell where they are coming from, whether it's from the house or from somewhere close by. There also appears to be more than one type, I think we get the pipestrelle and occasionally see quite large bats, but not sure what they are. Is that quite usual?

Can anyone advise how far bats fly from their roosts, or if they stay quite close. I take it that the best way to find where they are coming from is to sit, watch and wait!?
LucKy

[ChasCreek]

The distance bats fly to feed depends on the species; pipistrelles usually feed within 3km of their roost, others typically feed from anywhere from 1km upto 18km from the roost depending on the species.

Bats leave the roost at different times around sunset depending again on the species. The bats will fly in circles around the roost when emerging before going off to feed and on returning before re-entering the roost. So the best way I would say to find the roost is to watch out from just before sunset to see if you can see bats circling anywhere or to see bats flying overhead to gain an idea of the direction they are coming from. On the flip side about an hour before sunrise you could watch out for the direction the bats head on their return journey and again once back at the roost site they will circle it before heading in (there also seems to be a kind of pecking order that bats will re-enter the roost in).

Different bat species have different things they like to roost in, so without knowing the species it could be difficult to idenitfy possible roosts to 'stake' them out to get a jump on them emerging.

If you haven't got a bat detector then the information here http://www.bats.org.uk/downloads/nbm...dusktodawn.pdf the BTC dusk and dawn survey sheet may help as it shows the most common species and describes the bat shape, their flight and then the type of roost site they preffer.

Hope this is of some help.

[LucKy]

I didn't realise they flew so far - it really is amazing. We shall be sitting out for the next few evenings to see if we can see where they are coming from. They just seem to appear and follow the same flight paths most of the time, which is what made me think they would be quite local. We also keep poultry and have a pond, so maybe that helps attract more insects - 'food' for the bats. Thanks for your help, it was quite enlightening.