Two nights ago I was admiring the large-ish (Greater Horseshoe?) bats whilst cycling along a rural canal towpath. I was cycling slowly sans lights in the twilight, and thought (momentarily) ‘wonder if bats could fly into you’?

Literally a minute later there was this little ‘thwump-clatter’ on my collar-bone/throat. Holy ceap! We both survived but it felt weird.

In 30+ yrs of night cycling never had a problem. Must be immigrants!

It was weird to think it, then it happen straight after.

I’m currently thinking about Angelina Jolie running straight into me.

yup it happened to me once, hit me square in the chest as I was blasting down a bridleway. Close encounters of the wildlife kind!

I think this has been done before on here. The theory is that the bats favourite food, moths have cottoned onto the sonar pings and have learnt to drop to the floor when they feel/hear one. The bats in turn have learnt to fly on memory of the local terrain, and turn the sonar off. Instead they listen for the sound of the moths dropping.

So you riding into the bat’s territory and are not part of the terrain memory of the bat, so they fly into you.

It happened to me twice, on a quiet country lane – in the same spot actually. The first time it was a “on the chest” contact while zooming down the hill, the second was a “flaps in the face” sort of thing… 😕 while riding slowly up the hill…

I think it’s when you’re moving- you can stand in a room full of bats and never be hit but I’ve had it a few times riding and walking. Had one clip my ear the other week, that was cool.

Had one clip my ear the other week

Had you been misbehaving?

Had you been misbehaving?

It was definitely for bat behavior!

Argh.

Came close to a bat week before last – it flew down the trail about 2ft infront of my face for several seconds. I should get myself a GoPro just for the wildlife around here.

https://www.strava.com/activities/610495653

collar-bone/throat

Vampire bat, did it get you? Are you finding you need to stay out of the sun and have a thirst for blood?