Bats

[GardeningQuestionTime]

Do you have bats in your garden? Lying in the hammock with a glass of wine watching them . It feels slightly exotic here in the North West.

Not any more, there's been a crash in the local insect, bird and bat populations. We hardly see any insects or birds at all.

We used to see them every night when we first moved here 20 yrs ago. I've wondered for a few years why they've vanished.

We've seen a massive decline in garden birds this year apart from pigeon. None of our regular species.
For a while. The spring we had a buzzard in the oaks at the meadow end so that would explain it, but he's been gone for a couple of months now and still nothing, very worrying.

I put net up at the window after one evening of chasing a bat around the bedroom. About £15 from Amazon. Keeps bees and cats out as well but lets the air in.

And I haven't seen a hedgehog here for 8 years now
I work nights in a very isolated woodland house and haven't even seen hedgehogs there for two years now.
We had paused new builds in the area for a couple of years whilst they held inquiry into the effects on the watercourse (and hence wildlife) but all is well 'apparently' so it'll all start up again. Bad news for the river valley and nature reserves.

Three pipistrelle maternity roosts in the house roof spaces (old farmhouse) - think at the top of gable walls rather than throughout the loft space(!) - and noctules in one of our outbuildings.

Did have someone with a bat detector visit - estimated 600+ bats live in the environs of our house. Good job we quite like them.

They are feisty little creatures, and surprisingly long-lived.

Occasionally we get a lost tired one in the house, but kept in a shoe-box (with air holes, and some water / food) until evening they usually perk up and fly off OK.

Oh and we also have long-eared bats somewhere - but only know because the cats caught one, unfortunately.

We have them roost ( and we have a mother and baby crèche in June) behind our shutters. They are very fastidious and will only pick south facing in the summer but north facing in the winter. Summer has really arrived when I hear them chattering to each other at twilight.
Love them.

Had a good year here from buzzards and sparrow hawks, jays, magpies, woodpeckers lesser and green, goldfinches, chaffinches, 3 kinds of tits, sparrows, wood pigeon only thing I have missed is our cuckoo - costs a fortune in peanuts and sunflower seeds

Agree, they give me nightmares, some carry the rabies virus, yes even in the UK, if you find one when you wake up in your room you should get vaccinated just in case you’ve been bitten whilst sleeping without realising.

I don't, and never have anywhere I've lived but I wish I did - I adore them. Dp grew up in a lovely home with proper gardens and they had loads in one of the large trees near the house. I thought it was magical and it's the first and only time I've ever seen any in the wild but he and his whole family who were used to it were so massively and openly unimpressed by the whole thing.

Obviously not having much personal experience of it or owning a home affected by them makes it significantly easier to romanticise it and enjoy the sight so I don't have any desire to minimise what that must be like, but as an animal I just love them.

We have bats. My Spanish friend thinks the British are mad when it comes to finding bats interesting - she says in Spain they are just regarded as flying rats that flap around street lights 😁
I must admit I did buy a bat detector but you quickly get bored with it - I gave ours to the local scout group for their campsite evenings.

I love bats. At dusk there's a changeover when the housemartins who nest on our house go to roost and the bats come out to play. It's so nice sitting outside watching them on a summer evening.

They won't just randomly bite you, if you're not handling them!

Sad reading anecdata on this thread about the decline in insect numbers. Biodiversity is a bit fucked.

They won't just randomly bite you, if you're not handling them!

If you found a bat in your room whilst you were sleeping in any country outside the UK and Ireland this is classed as a category 2 exposure and you would need to seek medical attention for the post rabies exposure vaccine according to the guidelines from the UK Health Security Agency, so there is a risk of being bitten whilst you are sleeping otherwise they would not state it in their guidelines, you would not necessarily feel a bite or even see it as they don’t leave puncture marks. Yes the risk is far lower in the UK as the rabies virus is relatively rare in bats, however this does not mean no risk, I woke up to a bat in my bedroom in the UK, I got myself vaccinated, you can’t take a risk with rabies no matter how small.

They have different species

Yes, love watching them swoop around the garden. 🦇

Here is a direct quote from the UK Health Security Agency:
Bats
All bats, including those in the UK, may carry rabies-related viruses and so careful assessment of potential exposure is required. Bats may carry rabies and related lyssaviruses without signs of disease. Therefore exposure to bats or their secretions may constitute an exposure to virus even in countries which are declared rabies free in terrestrial mammals.

UKHSA guidelines on managing rabies post-exposure (January 2023)
In the UK, bats are the only reservoir of rabies-related lyssaviruses (EBLV1 and EBLV2), but they are a protected species and cannot be destroyed to determine rabies status if caught.

Yes lots, but it's too early for ours to be out

@PhilMitchellsleatherbomber I know they can carry rabies. I'm saying the bats we have here in the UK won't just randomly fly down and bite you. A frightened and trapped bat will bite. But they won't just fly down and bite you while you're innocently sleeping.

@Orangeinmybluelightcup Ah so only foreign bats bite randomly and good old British bats are far too polite.

Lol - maybe! They are British after all.

I don't think they would either. Even vampire bats would usually go for an existing wound to lick, I believe.