Our Bats Are Back .....

[trident]

....Just noticed today that our Bats are back....

We have had them for nearly ten years on and off - depending on the weather.

We have a maternity roast (apparently) - so the sound of little feet will be happening very soon..

Love them - but must admit that I am a little apprehensive when I need to go up into the loft and get stuff down.

I know that they inhabit a bit down the end of the loft and all my "stuff" is up the other end but it still freaks me out...

Our local "Batman" is coming soon to count them in and count them out (whatever floats your boat) ....

What inhabits your home - besides dust - as we have that too.....

it didn't feel terribly exotic... we were just standing around chatting about moving furniture when dh spotted it sitting in the corner and did a mahoosive double-take.

nah. not escaped. there are gazillions. the joys of living in the forest in a wildlife corridor. we get deer on the patio y'know.

suffice to say we have to keep the dogs on a lead...

We have bats - love watching them fly over our pond as it gets dark - also have families of blue tits, great tits and sparrows nesting at various points under our eaves, plus two pairs of swallows in our cartlodge, lots of toads, frogs & newts. We did have seven ducklings but they all disappeared after 1 day - victims I think to the stoat family who live by our gate. Had a young stoat chasing a vole up the path the other day.

Morebeta - I suspect our bats are living in our attic (we live in a converted barn) - but have never been up there to check. Have always wondered whether there is a huge mound of poo up there waiting to collapse through our bedroom ceiling one day - what do people do about bat poo?

Something else I have noticed this year in particular is masses of bumble bees - I thought they were supposed to be declining in numbers, but we have a lot here.

I don't know what to do about bat poo. Shovel it out I guess?

My parents had a swarm of honey bees come out of their chimney the other day. Swarmed into a tree and they called a local bee keeper who encouraged them into a 'swarm box'. He said there were 50,000 and probably another 20,000 still in the chimney. He was very grateful and said they were really strong healthy bees.

I have around a dozen long eared bats in my gateway, they are perfectly harmless and can sometimes be seen clinging to the walls and beams during daylight hours. There are loads of insects in the area due to the dense undergrowth so I presume that is what they are eating.

Bat poo selling at £14 per kilo

Apparently, it is the finest fertilizer in the world.

Had bats in our old house. I do miss them. Once we were sitting outside at dusk watching the bats, when a sparrow hawk swept down a caught a bat about 2 metres from us. Amazing. Also would occasionally have bats getting lost and coming in the windows and found a baby bats crawling along the floor and one in the toilet......
Just remember if you're touching bats to wear gloves as they can have rabies.

Shiver shiver shiver!

I hate bats. When we were buying our house the survey mentioned 'evidence of bats' in attic. It was almost a deal breaker! Had to call the owners and ask them to look. He went up into attic to check and reckoned there hadn't been any for at least 4 years as he had put some sheets of polystyrene up there and there were no droppings on it. Phew. We have had some roof repairs done and builder was under strict instruction to make sure there are no entry points for bats! Urgh.

I did get shat upon by a fruit bat in Africa once. Ruined a perfectly good white shirt!

Buda - sheets of polythene sound a good idea, then I could fold them up and contain all the bat poo and take it to the compost heap.

More Beta - we keep bees, and managed to collect a swarm a few weeks ago so now have 3 colonies. last week we took 130 pounds of honey from our 2 established hives. Swarms in chimneys are very difficult to deal with so it was lucky your parents' swarm came out to somewhere that they could be easily collected. We use a lovely old woven skep to collect swarms.

My ds would be very {envy} he loves bats!!!We used to have them here behind my house when fields then the buggers built a new housing development :(

dotty - I hope you won't mind if I send a PM later because my Dad is highly allergic to bee stings.

Hmm, we have bats too and I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say I love them. They live in the eaves above our back door so every morning I have to wash away the little black poos and the piddle that decorates the door step, otherwise it stinks.

They are right by the headboard end of my son's bed, and although he doesn't seem to mind the rustling and squeaking I can't say I'm too keen.

Live and let live yes, but not love!

Look at how cool these bats are - nonchalently snacking on scorpions www.newscientist.com/article/dn19791-zoologger-the-hardest-bat-in-the-world.html

..he counted them out but has left before he counted them back in...

So far we have 29 bats - so the pitter patter of little feet is imminent...