Bangkok bat

BCT’s global reach continues to grow. Our Helpline Supervisor, Gill Sanders(right), recently received an email from someone in Bangkok who needed advice about a bat they had rescued – and there is the happy ending!

I received a call from a woman called Chompoonuj who had found a bat on a ground in her building in Bangkok, Thailand.

As there was no rehabilitation centre nearby that she knew of and the vet was about 10 km away (and even then she felt the vet wouldn’t have been a bat expert), she emailed the BCT helpline.

When I spoke with her she explained that she had placed the bat into her shoe box, with a shallow dish of water combined with 10% carrot juice, a ripe banana and a piece of cloth at a corner. I asked her to put some gloves on and check it for injuries. She did this and reported no physical injuries, although she said it did seem to be frightened; which is not unusual.

Both wings spread out fine but only one at a time and there was a piece of dried fruit (half an inch) hanging on its mouth which she pulled out. The bat measured about two and a half inches long with a tail about one inch and a furry body but a hairless face.

I emailed her to let her know that what she was doing seemed in line with the advice we give out for short-term caring but from her description I couldn’t identify which species of bat it was. If it was eating fruit then my first instinct was to think it was a fruit bat but as they are larger than the description then this didn’t seem a possibility. I did, however, suggest that if it wasn’t eating the dried fruit then she should try to feed it with very small amounts of wet cat or dog food. And, after this, if the bat appeared healthy and active, then she should try to release it at dusk, as close as possible to where she found it.

I also advised that a small number of bats carry a rabies virus, so if she should continue to handle it always wear gloves, to make sure you she is not bitten or scratched.

Luckily I heard back from Chompoonuj later that day to tell me the good news. After 10pm, she had turned all the lights off and waited for the bat to emerge. Within five minutes, after complete darkness, the little bat became instantly active and climbed from the box toward the window edge....about a foot (it was found on the eight floor of their building, so we tried to release it from the next closest window) At the edge of the window it stopped, spread its wings, and ...wow...flew into the night.

Chompoonuj said it was a beautiful sight to watch and was very grateful for all my help with the little fellow.

A brilliant batty weekend

Me helping out at the bat box building. (c) BCT

Last weekend I helped to organise the Bat Weekend at the Natural History Museum , writes BCT’s Count Bat Project Regional Officer, Ed Santry.

The event was a result of all the hard work of staff and volunteers at the Natural History Museum, Open Air Laboratories (a Big Lottery Fund initiative) and the London Bat Group.

It was a great day out for all the family and I am happy to say that we seem to have lots of fans out there who came along to see the BCT team and of course the bats. In fact, nearly 1000 visitors came along over the weekend and got to be part of the fun which included the batty arts and crafts tent where kids (and some adults – including BCT staff, ahem!!!) created bat hats, masks, and got their face painted. We also held bat box building sessions and visitors got the chance to see some bats up close.

Our lovely trustee, Kate Jones, also brought along some ‘bat ears’ for children and adults alike to have a play with. They mimicked the actions of a bat echolocating whilst flying at night, using sonar sound to help the people trying them out to get around without any sight (see photo). These provided much amusement to those watching people try and not bump into things…it just goes to show how clever bats really are!

I myself undertook the bat box sessions, which were great fun and there seemed to be some really good craftsmen and women amongst the future generations. Most people even managed to put them together without help from their parents (which is more than Sarah and Steve from our Communication’s Department did on their test run last week!). Everyone also got to take home their boxes to put them up and help encourage bats into their gardens.

But of course, the stars of the weekend as we suspected, were Jenny Clark from the Sussex Bat Hospital and her bats. Jenny kindly brought along nearly all of the ten species which can be found in the London area. As always, with her knowledge and wonderful presenting skills, Jenny made even the most skeptical of people bat lovers by the time they had been into the Wildlife Shed to visit her and see the bats up close.

It was such an eventful weekend and on the Saturday afternoon, we had London Tonight come down and film some bat box building and Jenny with her bats. I sneakily managed to avoid being filmed on camera, but all the people squeezed in the Wildlife Shed helped highlight the importance people are placing on wildlife conservation nowadays and the interest from the general public in bats– which is great news for us all here at BCT!

BCT staff were out in full force for the festivities. Our own Communications Officer, Sarah Wallace even got into the spirit of things by donning her Batgirl outfit on the Sunday to try and chivvy people along to the Wildlife Garden (where all the fun took place). She was seen swooping around the Garden throughout the day guiding people along to all the different activities we’d put on.

Our Education Officer, Shirley Thompson and Ken and Zoe Greenway from the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, gave inspiring discussions as part of the Natural History Museum’s Nature Live talks about bats. They covered topics such as where bats live, what they eat and the best time and places to go bat watching.

Most importantly though, aside from all the excitement of course, the weekend also provided the opportunity for our team here at BCT to reach out to the public about bat conservation and talk to them about the importance of helping us to monitor bats and how they can get involved through our Sunrise/Sunset Survey. Aimed at beginners, the surveys couldn’t be easier. The Sunset Survey simply asks members of the public to spend the evening in their garden and watch out for any bats that fly past. Record how many bats they see, which species they are (if known) and, most importantly, which direction they are flying from. The Sunrise Survey involves going out just before dawn to look for bats swarming before they return to their roost. All information then goes into our National Bat Monitoring Programme.

All in all it was wonderful weekend and, as with many of these sorts of events, it was great to see the support from bat fans and the general public alike. Seeing the change in people’s perception of bats - particularly when they see how small and cute they really are – is a real positive experience and spreads the word of the importance of these unique mammals.

Here’s to many more successful events in the future!

Twins?

The twins with mum. (c) P and M Grimsey.

We have a guest blog this week by our Out of Hours volunteers, Peter and Margaret Grimsey who had a rather interesting batty experience recently.

On the morning of the 29th June, we received a call from Martin Hoare at Stonor Park, to say that they had found a grounded mother bat with two babies. The idea seemed highly unlikely, but so was finding three grounded bats together, so we set off to investigate.

Stonor is one of England’s oldest manor houses. It has been owned by the same family for 850 years and is situated in beautiful parkland with a freely roaming deer herd. When we arrived, the inside of the house was cool, despite the day already getting gradually hotter; two metre thick walls tend not to warm up too quickly!

We found the three bats. All were common pipistrelles with one confirmed lactating female. Martin explained that certain doors of the old house tended to leak during wet weather and it was the practice of the housekeeping staff to put an old towel across the bottom to soak up the water. This morning the housekeeper had spotted the bats just before shaking the towel outside. With admirable quick thinking, she had carefully collected the brood in the towel and found a box to keep them in.

Once home, we always allow the bats to settle before making a full examination. However, that evening it did quickly become apparent that at least one of the bats was a baby (it was suckling mum!).
Over the course of that evening and the following morning, we gave mum wax worm innards, which she took immediately. The bat who wasn’t suckling took Esbilac milk formula from a paint brush, and both “babies” had a few licks of a wax worm innard.

On 1st July we examined and weighed all three:

Pip 45 Female, lactating, weight - 5gms, forearm - 32.7mm
Pip 45 Female, fully furred, weight - 3.8gms, forearm - 27.3mm
Pip 45 Male, fully furred, weight - 4.4gms, forearm - 29.1mm

At this point, we wondered whether the trio was actually a mum with female offspring and a male companion. However, over the following days, we got into the routine of supplement feeding which ever juvenile was not being suckled, and discovered that she was, in fact, suckling them both.


For the next few days we were leaving 20 worms for them each night and morning. The trio were disposing of up to 40 worms in 24 hours. So the juveniles were clearly feeding themselves.

By July 7th, all of the bats had shown signs of improved health and had increased in weight and measurements of their forearms. By the 10th July, the bats were self-sufficient and we had seen them all flying in their cage so we arranged with Martin to return to Stonor and release them. The weather, which had recently been wet and windy, looked like staying fine.

We had been thinking for some time how best to achieve release as we did not want mum to get separated from the juveniles. Clearly, the bat held at arms length method could not be used, and we also felt that an open box, put high up with the bats in, would be risky, as one bat might panic and fly out before the others were ready.

Eventually we made up a soft pocket from the hood off a body warmer. Our plan was to place the bats inside and then position the pocket in a suitable release spot. The bats would be warm and they could creep out in their own time after they, or at least mum, had the chance to recognise the surroundings. (We are fairly convinced, from observations made during previous bat releases, that bats can recognise the smell of an area.)

Martin met us and we decided to put the bats on a high wall under an overhanging fig tree. The bats were carefully lifted off their hot water bottle and placed on the wall in their cosy pouch at about 9pm. After seeing several faces peeping out of the pouch we watched mum fly off after about half an hour. We watched until it got too dark and mum returned several times calling to the babies, and we heard them respond. We were also able to pick up mum’s feeding busses as she over flew us. But it was too dark to see and the babies did not seem to have flown.

The following morning Martin rang us to say he had been out early to check and the pouch was still in position and dry under the fig and the bats had gone. We can only assume from this that the release had been a success.

We are very grateful to Stonor Park and Martin and Caroline Hoare for their help and care for the bats, and for giving us the chance to experience what we feel to be a very rare bat event.

An insight into BCT's Bat Helpline helpers!

Crystal Schintz has worked as a BCT Helpline Officer since March last year. Here she shares with you her lack of movie knowledge, what her role at BCT involves and her love of all things batty!

What do you like most about working for BCT/Helpline? I like the feeling that the work I’m doing is making a difference for British bats. It’s great when you take a call from a frightened homeowner wanting to get rid of the bats they’ve just discovered in their loft, but by the end of the call, they’re referring to their little guests as ‘my bats’ and wanting to know how they can help keep them safe and happy.

Tell us about an interesting call you’ve had recently. I’ve recently had a gentleman ask if he could post me an injured bat from Scotland because he didn’t have any bat carers near him. Other bats have been reported to be eating stiletto shoes or leaving footprints on counters after eating all the fruit in the fruit bowl.

Which native bat species is your favourite (and why)? The long-eared bats are ridiculously cute and their sweet little faces have a remarkable ability of melting even the coldest of anti-bat hearts. I also have a bit of a soft spot for our very own “Lonely George” – the one and only greater mouse-eared bat in the UK.

Somebody calls saying they think they’ve got bats in their house but they’re a bit freaked out. What do you tell them? The truth! Bats are good guests - They do not chew woodwork, fabric or cables, nor build nests, and there is no known health risks associated with their bat droppings. A small number of one species of bat in the UK (we have 17 species) do carry a rabies type virus but there is no risk to a homeowner unless handling a bat. If a grounded bat was found, handling the bat with thick gloves (and contacting the BCT helpline for advice) would remove any potential risk.

My advice would be to invite over your friends and family for a BBQ and watch the bats emerge from their roost at dusk – it’s really cool to see! And as an added bonus, the bats eat loads of those pesky little midges!

Is there an actual big red flashing ‘bat phone’ that you all take it in turns to answer? You know, when I started at BCT, friends kept asking me that and I didn’t get it the reference - I blame the fact that I grew up in the countryside for my lack of movie knowledge. It has since been explained to me, but I’ve still never seen any of the Batman films…disgraceful, aren’t I? Oh right, back to the phone. If by big you mean normal sized, by red you mean black and by flashing you’re referring to the small red light that flashes when it rings…then yes. Yes there is.

It’s usually tigers, monkeys or polar bears that get all the conservation attention in the media. What drew you to help bats? The fact that tigers, monkeys or polar bears get all the conservation attention in the media! When’s the last time you saw a polar bear echolocating (the sonar used by bats to navigate) or a monkey flying? Bats are truly remarkable mammals and deserve just as much help as tigers!

Batman looks like he can handle himself pretty well – so why do bats need our help? I think they’re really misunderstood and sadly suffer a bad reputation as a result of some negative media and myths. Plus it is quite largely a result of human activities that bats need help (loss of natural habitats, destruction of flight lines, encroachment on feeding areas, building and development etc), so it is really rewarding that my activities as a human can repair some of the damage done!

Talking the bat walk

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A common pipistrelle on the wing -- as seen in Regent's Park

(image: Hugh Clark)

BCT's Biodiversity Officer Lisa Hundt helped lead last week's bat walk in Regent's Park -- and did a brilliant job, we might add. Here she reveals her heretofore unknown weakness for red liquorice laces and explains why happy, healthy bats are good for the environment and us, too!

How many bats did you see?
I would say that for the first 15 minutes I could count exactly how many; it was three and I spent that entire time biting my nails wondering if they were going to desert us in our hour of need! Once we got down to the lake there were so many bats looping around foraging that it was difficult to tell, as the same bat will pass by a number of times. I would make a guess at about 40 to 60.

Drawing on your extensive and expert knowledge, what species were they likely to be?
I am slightly intimidated by the words ‘extensive’ and ‘expert’, it might be digging me a hole! The two main species of bats we saw were soprano pipistrelle and common pipistrelle bats. They were the bats that were foraging by the lake, often flying in quite close in what looks like an erratic manner, but they know what they are doing. The other species noted was a noctule bat, which has a slower call. This one was heard by the lake and along the path on the way back.

Judging by their enthusiastic loops and twirls, the bats in Regent’s Park seem pretty healthy and happy. Would you agree? And what does that mean for us humans?
Yes, the bats did seem on form that night. They were making the most of the good weather and stocking up on food in preparation for the inevitable periods within the British summer when the weather turns and there aren’t as many insects for them to feed on.

Bats are great indicators of a healthy environment, which means that if they are happy and healthy, then the environment that we live in is happy and healthy too. This is why it is so important to preserve areas they use. That way we preserve the environment for us to enjoy and for all the other species that live there as well.

Walk highlight?
Getting to the lake to see the pipistrelles foraging.

Walk lowpoint?
Not being able to take a cheese plate with us!

If people are interested in going on a bat walk, what should they do?
If you are interested in learning more about bats and going on a bat walk the best place to start is by contacting your local bat group who will often organise events over the summer. Look on the BCT website to find your nearest group.

Would you like to make a bat walk shout-out?
Bat walk shout out goes to Jenny Clark and her bats. Brilliant!

You’ve only been with us for a few weeks – how’re you finding it so far? Maybe you could tell us a little about what you do at BCT?
My role at BCT involves a bit of everything; lobbying, commenting on consultations for draft policy, working with Natural England and other organisations on initiatives such as the Biodiversity Action Plans (BAP), drafting guidance documents, as well as supporting BCT projects. I am finding working for BCT interesting, fun and rewarding -- as you can tell I am still at the point where I am full of enthusiasm, which I hope will continue.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Something you might not know about me: I am a PADI dive master and have a weakness for red liquorice laces.

Regent's Park bat walk extravaganza!

This the route we took (pretty much) for last night's bat walk in Regent's Park. The weather was perfect and there were lots of bats about. It's great to know they're still whizzing about the skies of London, if you look carefully enough.

Special thanks to all our supporters, especially the Regent's Park crew who provided the venue.

More on the walk soon!

Preparing our defences against a deadly threat to bats

Little brown bats with WNS in New York

(image: N Heaslip)

We're really worried here at BCT by the spread of White-nose Syndrome (WNS), the mysterious condition that has killed literally hundreds of thousands of bats in the northeastern US.

Here's how Bat Conservation International's Annual Report 2007 - 2008 described the situation:

‘Emaciated bat carcasses literally piled up in the snow outside hibernation caves in the northeastern United States last winter, imposing an almost desperate urgency on scientific efforts to solve the mystery of White-nose Syndrome – perhaps the worst ever threat faced by North American bats. [T]housands of bats died of this unexplained malady… with mortality rates exceeding 90 percent report at some hibernation caves. Whole species are at risk, and the danger of WNS spreading to other regions is unclear.’

First confirmed in bat colonies in New York in 2006, WNS had spread to Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts by 2008. So far this year it's already been found in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

No conclusive evidence of WNS has been found in the UK or mainland Europe but a number of cases of dead bats with fungal growths similar to the tell-tale signs of WNS have focussed concerns. What would happen if WNS was found here or in wider Europe? It could have a devastating impact.

So what are we doing about it? BCT has developed WNS guidelines for bat workers and other users of hibernation sites in the UK and wider Europe. Plus, we're working to raise awareness and encourage vigilance amongst the public. Now there's an urgent need to develop and implement a WNS surveillance programme, as well as formulate plans to ensure a rapid and coordinated response to WNS in the event that it is discovered in this part of the world.

You can find out more about WNS and what we're doing about it on our website. If you're able to make a donation to support this work, please donate online. Your support, no matter how large or small, will make a difference.