We’re Batty about BATS on Alderney.
Our Little Island loves its bats (Chiroptera in Latin). We don’t have that many types and you probably have more of them where you live, but here on Alderney we’ve grown to really appreciate these small flying mammals.
Common Pipestrelle rescued Alderney YOU MUST NEVER HANDLE A BAT ONLY SOMEONE LICENSED AND TRAINED IS ALLOWED TO DO THIS
Our common species is the Common Pipestrelle. This, the smallest British bat, has a wing span of only around 22cms and a body length of just 4cms or so. Yet Pippestrelles can fly at over 25mph, as fast as the fastest human runner, and need to eat thousands of miniscule insects every night!
Perhaps the most impressive feature of the micro chiroptera (small bats), is their echolocation. This system of using sound to map the dark nocturnal world they hunt in works on the same principal as sonar for submarines and dolphins. The bats spray noise from their mouths (in the case of Pipestrelles) and listen to the thousands of echo’s that bounce back each second to calculate how far objects are away from them. You can only imagine a bat sees sound in a similar way to how we see radar used by a plane. Echolocation is vital because Bats often hunt in locations where its almost completely dark and they hunt midges and micro moths which are only millimetres in length. On the whole British bat species have good eyesight and echolocation is an additional sense which helps them hunt more effectively and they can even use it to stun the insects they are trying to catch by blasting them with incredibly strong pulses of sound.
Bat Echolocation is outside the range of human hearing (0.5-16khz), in fact Pipestrelles echolocation (45khz) is over two and a half times higher than you can hear. So to hear a bat echolocating we need bat detectors, microphones which record and replay the sound at a lower level which we can hear. Using these detectors not only can we track a bat through the night as it hunts, but hear it buzzing insects with their echolocation before they scoop them up to eat and even identify what type of bat without needing to see them.
Grey Long eared rescued on Alderney YOU MUST NEVER HANDLE A BAT ONLY SOMEONE LICENSED AND TRAINED IS ALLOWED TO DO THIS
Perhaps the reason we love our Bats so much on Alderney is that there are so few of them! Bat populations have fallen dramatically all over the world but especially in Europe, England and here in Alderney. For bats to do well they need a healthy environment which is rich in insects. These insects not only feed the bats but they help to pollinate flowers and remove rubbish, so when bat numbers drop we have to worry about what is happening the environment we live in.
So here on Alderney we celebrate our bats, be they Common Pipestrelles, or the rare Grey Long-Eared. Why don’t you see if you have a local Bat Group in your area and join them on a bat walk (http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/local_bat_groups.html)?
-Roland Gauvain, Trust Manager
“How many bugs does a bat eat every night ?”
Pipistrelles can eat between 2-3,000 midges a night when active.
what are the bats called?
where did you find them?
On Alderney we have
– Common and Saprano Pipistrelles which can be found roosting normally in the edge of weatherboarding and window frames of houses, as well as occasionally in woodland.
– Grey long-eared bats, these guys are more likely to roost in woodland or roof spaces of houses, but tend to hunt in woodland areas on Alderney.
how old are the bats?
Normally Pipistrelles don’t live more than 4-8 years of age though bats in captivity have lived as long as 14 years
who found them?
Not sure what you mean with this question? the Alderney Wildlife Trust monitor all sorts of species on the island and we try and track and keep an eye on our bats and where they roost, so you could say we did?!
how many baby`s are their?
For our common bat the Common pipistrelle normally only 2 babies (pups) per female
The bats are so small but there wings are really long
How do you tell the difference between a female and a male ?
How small are there baby’s ?
How many baby’s do they have ?
What is the favourite type of insets to eat ?
from molly 🙂
Hi Molly, we’ll do our best to answer all your questions 🙂
The bats are so small but there wings are really long – bats are mammals and unlike birds who have special honeycombed bones their bones are very heavy, therefore they have to have a very large wind in proportion to their body to be able to fly.
How do you tell the difference between a female and a male ? – Its very difficult, it can only be done by a close inspection of an expert or during the summer months when they have babies (pups) females will tend to stay in larger roosts, whilst males will go off in small groups or by themselves, so roost size can help.
How small are there baby’s ? – a pipistrelle pup is only the size of an adults little finger nail around 1cm in length
How many baby’s do they have ? – on average only 2 pups per female
What is the favorite type of insets to eat ? – they are very flexible but pipistrelles will limit themselves to insects no more than 3.5mm in size normally.
Hope this answers all your questions Molly 🙂
what are the baby`s called?
from Gus 🙂
Hi Gus,
The young are called pups.
what are the baby`s called?
from Gus 🙂
Baby bats are called Pups Gus.
Hi holly what do bats eat?
Hi,
Bats feed on flying insects.
Hi holly what do bats eat?
All sorts, but the smaller bats we get around here will normally be eating little midges (very small files) and very very small moths (micro moths). A Common Pipistrelle (our common bat) needs to eat 2-3,000 midges a night to survive!