Bat in a burdock

[vole-woman]

I'm so glad you managed to free it!

[Hedgehoggy]

Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Well done on such a delicate rescue operation. That's one very lucky little bat

Ellen, sorry yours wasn't as lucky

[colincurry]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

What about a pipistrelle?

Thanks for all the comments - credit is very much due to the couple who first found the bat.

Is it a pipistrelle, please?

Colin

[valleyforge]

Originally Posted by colincurry

Is it a pipistrelle, please?

I think it's not possible to make a 100% determination of species from the available photos of this individual, but from shape of ears and light colouration of the face, I would be inclined to think it is neither a Common or Nathusius' pipistrelle.

To me it looks much more like a Natterer's, but the definitive indicator would be the presence of stiff bristles on the edge of the tail membrane.

[Garden Carpet]

Thunder here. Well done for rescuing the bat. This bat clearly has a blunt, finger-like tragus (the lobe in the ear) so can't be a Natterer's. It is certainly one of the Pipistrelles.

Point of information - bats are the cleanest of animals.

henrya

[The Woodman]

Well done Colin, good job done there.

It is a Pipistrelle as Thunder says, the tragus in the inner ear is the distinguishing factor. Natterer's has a long thin pointed tragus with straight sides.

The facial membranes, especially around the muzzle, look pinkish to me suggesting Soprano Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pygmaeus rather than the much darker membranes of the Common Pip. as can be seen in Colins image of the bat in the hand.

[valleyforge]

Originally Posted by Garden Carpet

This bat clearly has a blunt, finger-like tragus (the lobe in the ear) so can't be a Natterer's. It is certainly one of the Pipistrelles.

I stand corrected ... my references don't give a clear indication of the tragus type in a Natterer's.

On that basis then, I'd agree with The Woodman that it's more likely to be a Soprano pipistrelle ... though I've never actually encountered one of those.

[The Woodman]

A little aide-memoire I developed many years ago as a trainee bat licencee was this.

Apart from the "obvious" bats i.e. Long-eared, Horseshoe, Noctule, Barbastelle and a couple of others whose ID features shouldn't be a problem, my concern was those little brown jobs, especially the Myotis boys and Pips.

I always use this now with ID'ing any small bat initially, but must stress it is not definative and must be used with other characteristics. The jist of it is the shape of the tragus is similar to the first letter of the species.

Small sized bats
P for Pipistrelle: tragus is P shaped - albeit a bit squashed. All pip species tragi look alike.

W for Whiskered: tragus narrow and sharply pointed, straight edges - just the centre of the letter W.

B for Brandt's: tragus not exactly B shaped but inner edge is straight and the outer edge is convex - bit like half a B!

Medium sized bats

D for Daubenton's: tragus like a D. Straight inner edge, convex outer edge, just like a D.

N for Natterer's: a larger version of the Whiskered bats tragus. Long thin and straight sided - like the first two strokes of a capital N (nearly).

These features are subtle and shouldn't be relied on to positively ID a bat but I find it helps for me.

[Bridgend]

Doesn't this sort of rescue give you just the most wonderful feeling? Well done,
Clare

[valleyforge]

That's an excellent system Woodman ... thanks for sharing it.