Is any one lucky enough to have Bats in their garden ?

I am watching bats fly round my garden (Pippistrel ?) while sitting upstairs on this forum.. they virtually fly up to the window.. this is nothing new as they have been around my garden since I moved in 19 years ago.. they really are incredible flyers.. tried many times in vain to photograph them..

Regularly. I like bats. They eat midges.

Nearly every night in the summer when it's not raining here

yeup – mine go squeak – but not everyone that visits can hear them, I have even been accused of making it up – but they do go squeak!

They do, I hear them also.. I love the little things, I am so glad they are a protected species.

yep here to, go out on any nice evening in our drive/yard and we have a few, and yes we have heard the squeak

Yes we have them. I love watching them at dusk. Fast buggers aren't they.
I once had one smack me in the face just as I was coming back from a ride.
Obviously not looking where he was going 🙂

Hope you realise you cant do anything to disturb them , like knocking down or altering a building, but fantastic beutiful creatures, try to get a pet one to hang on your hand, and you see intelligence in their eyes, a very underestimated creature, that dont harm anything except flies.

It tried to eat your 'helmet' ?

outside the window most nights here.
do they live in trees??

Lots of trees around here, quite possibly so..

there is a huge fir tree nextdoor, they are in and out all the time at dusk.

Yep. As said before, they eat midges which I hate. Really nice to see.

If you think that's cool, how about one of these on your window ledge?

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is that a Mink ?

stuffed for sure………. 😉

Well stuffed after eating peanut butter sandwiches

The word 'bat' comes from 'Bird' and 'Rat' put together. They're flying rats.

GET THEM OUT OF MY HAIR GET THEM OUT OF MY HAIR!

Calm down, Calm down…Oh, that the Steven Gerrard thread is it not… 😉

neverfastenuff – Member

is that a Mink ?

Pine Marten

Nice, we have Mink around here, I have often seen them…

ive got bats in my garden my dad nearly wets himself when they come out of hibernation and ive also got mink traps 😉

Taka, pull the 'Otter' one.. 😉

They do make an audible squeak. I used know a guy who's duties included opening up a 16th century castle each morning. It still had the enormous 16th century lock on the door and he had to carry the huge key around with him. One morning he puts the key in the door and theres a squeak. He thinks – I'd better oil that – pulls out the key and theirs a little bat squashed on the end of the key.

I also got home from a long drive back through the highlands once, with the bike on the roof of the car, to find I'd collected a little bat head tube badge en route. Poor wee mite.

I had some in my loft until I killed them. 😆

😉

I built an ornamental Doocot at the bottom of the garden, it's first and only occupants are Bats.

Bats are brill. As mentioned above, they eat midges. We have bats here, I just wish we had more as there is plenty of food for them.

Yup, had bats everywhere I can remember, they're remarkably common (some of them!). Love bats.

Yep, I've always been hugely impressed by bats. Specially how they manage to fly.

I've nearly had a bat strike on a twilight descent out of the woods. Often watch them collecting insects on summer evenings outside my living room window.

we used to get loads every summer as the fallowfield cycle loop runs right along behind my garden creating a tree-lined channel ideal for them to hunt along, but GMPTE chopped all the trees down in january in preparation for the metrolink extension (which isn't even going to run past my flat for another few years and is dependent on funding), so this year i've only seen a couple of them.

They have a bat house in Chester Zoo. The lighting is very subdued, some form of blue, and the bats are flying around all the time. They fly right at you and only move away at the last minute. Spooky at first, but once you get used to it it's a great experience. Big things they are – fruit bats I think.

barely any at the current house, but lots at a previous
the squeaks will be more audible to children and some adults can hear them depending on how their sense of hearing has developed and the species of bat as they squeak at different frequencies – the main way to identify them in flight with a bat box

they can nest almost anywhere you could stuff your thumb, come across them quite a bit at work in barns and trees

if you handle them regular, you're eligible for a rabies jab!

Bats live in the old barn next to us. A common sight in the garden on a summers evening.

There was a green woodpecker on the lawn this morning too 8)

We have one that flys up and down our line of houses, we call it Boris. Best bats I've seen were in Malta, sat on the roof of where we staying, looking over the bay towards Valleta, as they swooped in and around the trees. Oh and there were some rather large fruit bats on the island we stayed on in the Maldives, wing span of 3 ft, were flying during the day, people kept saying look at all those big birds, they went a bit funny when told they were bats.

Chatworthmusters,
I went to Chester Zoo recently and spent ages in the Bat enclosure, once you got used to the sme;; and your eyes adjusted there were great to watch, happened to have a couple of Bats of indeterminable size buzz me, so close you could feel the draft from their wings.. brilliant stuff.

We get them visiting us, love sitting out on summer evenings with a glass or two watching them.

We get them visiting us, love sitting out on summer evenings with a glass or two watching them.

Most summer nights at dusk and try to watch them at every opportunity, been making enquiries on how to photograph them.

Common opinion is pre focus on a likely spot and then use an infra red trigger to fire the flash
Not convinced and sure they fly far too erratically for any AF to lock on them

i thought i saw some bats,when i looked out of my window around dusk,i cannot be sure though?they kept dancing in the sky then divebombing,it might have been birds though!!!