Bats social sounds

[nightshade]

I have not seen much of the Pipistrelles this year, we have a new family in the street they bought the house as a school address no one lives there the garden has been manicured to within an inch of its life and all the glorious honeysuckle and other insect adored shrubs have gone.
Imagine my surprise when I heard several Pips making noises in the low end of the detector range as they stuttered about above my garden. I have only ever heard this around roosts before.

[canis.rufus]

Being blessed with good hearing (although I don't know how much longer it will last) I am able to hear Pip social calls without a detector and I find it quite remarkable how these social calls suddenly appear in flying bats from the beginning of August. Sometimes I am even able to locate the bat by its sound and hear it circling above.

I was in a wood at the weekend where there were almost no bats flying, but the constant social clicks could be heard from Pips sitting on the trees.

Glad to hear your bats are back! Regards - Toby.

[nightshade]

I just found this useful site listen to bats for the people without detectors
Bat species identification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Gill Catton]

I can still hear bigger bats echolocating serotine seems most easily heard.(and a rather large bat that I saw in Mauritius was actually really loud) But no longer seem to be able to hear pip social calls so well I have to pretty close to the bat.

Beware though click type sounds from up trees (well to me its sound almost like a kiss noise through a bat detector) can be speckled bush crickets a call that you can't hear with the naked ear. I only mention this because I used to get really confused when I first started and thought - all these clicks can't all be bats! I later developed the theory about it actuallly being crickets and tested it with a captive male speckled bush cricket (Mr Chirpy) and his calls made the same noise.

[nightshade]

I only ever get a Green coloured Cricket here so I know their sounds Gill
I would love some Bush Crickets though ( speckled or otherwise)
Nice big Noctule that flys over has such a powerful call it feels as if the detector is going to burst.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

I can still hear bigger bats echolocating serotine seems most easily heard.(and a rather large bat that I saw in Mauritius was actually really loud) But no longer seem to be able to hear pip social calls so well I have to pretty close to the bat.

Beware though click type sounds from up trees (well to me its sound almost like a kiss noise through a bat detector) can be speckled bush crickets a call that you can't hear with the naked ear. I only mention this because I used to get really confused when I first started and thought - all these clicks can't all be bats! I later developed the theory about it actuallly being crickets and tested it with a captive male speckled bush cricket (Mr Chirpy) and his calls made the same noise.

Thanks for the tip Gill, I have just got a detector and heard lots of other noises but no bats as yet.
Still learning how to use it yet.

[thunder]

Originally Posted by nightshade

I only ever get a Green coloured Cricket here so I know their sounds Gill
I would love some Bush Crickets though ( speckled or otherwise)
Nice big Noctule that flys over has such a powerful call it feels as if the detector is going to burst.

Speckled Bush-crickets are green, Nightshade (with speckles)

henrya

[Kayleigh]

Thanks for the link Nightshade I have bookmarked its very useful.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Thanks for the tip Gill, I have just got a detector and heard lots of other noises but no bats as yet.
Still learning how to use it yet.

The cricket sounds are strongest at lower frequencies 20-30Khz.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

The cricket sounds are strongest at lower frequencies 20-30Khz.

Thanks Gill..