www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

slightly off subject, but theres alot of bats flying around just outside our flat, wonder what type they are? fly pretty fast and quiet small

The commonest bats near houses in most areas are pipistrelles. They often 'come to light' - circling around street lamps &c. to catch the moths attracted by the light. In Suffolk I think they usually go into hibernation in October but before this they have to do a lot of eating to fatten themselves up.

Guy

padfield wrote:The commonest bats near houses in most areas are pipistrelles. They often 'come to light' - circling around street lamps &c. to catch the moths attracted by the light. In Suffolk I think they usually go into hibernation in October but before this they have to do a lot of eating to fatten themselves up.

Guy

Might be right, we have them here. I have seen them quite a few nights running. They roost in old horse stables here and come up to the forests to feed. I have held a baby one before and it was pretty small. Don't think there is another bat in UK thats as small as a pipistrelle

Are Pipistrelles endangered or are they quite common? I've seen bats around the house for years.

All British Bats are threatened (mainly through habitat loss) and some are critically endangered. All species are heavily protected by law and they're one of the few groups of animals where the weight of the law is actually used to enforce their protected status. The Pipistrelle is more common and widespread than most but certainly threatened non the less.

It is illegal to disturb a bat or it's habitat in anyway, and heavy fines are levied for those that do. Bat licenses are notoriously difficult to acquire as well, unlike licences for some other groups that on the face of it have the same legal protection.

You will be committing a criminal offence if you:

Deliberately capture, injure or kill a bat
Intentionally or recklessly disturb a bat in its roost or deliberately disturb a group of bats
Damage or destroy a bat roosting place (even if bats are not occupying the roost at the time)
Intentionally or recklessly obstruct access to a bat roost
Possess or advertise/sell/exchange a bat (dead or alive) or any part of a bat (so anyone who has a bat skull for example, perhaps from a dead individual that they have found in the attic, is most certainly breaking the law).

In a court, 'deliberately' will probably be interpreted as someone who, although not intending to capture/injure or kill a bat, performed the relevant action, being sufficiently informed and aware of the consequence his/her action will most likely have.

Penalties on conviction - the maximum fine is £5,000 per incident or per bat (some roosts contain several hundred bats), up to six months in prison, and forfeiture of items used to commit the offence, eg vehicles, plant, machinery.

There have been a significant amount of successful prosecutions for bat related offences, the majority pertaining to damage (willful or otherwise) to bat roosts.

If you are lucky enough to have a bat roost in your attic or garden shed, it would effectively be an offence to enter the loft or shed at all when the bats are in residence.

Felix.

I get bats most nights in my surburban garden, nice to know they may be pipestrelles!
Cheers
Lee

This is a pipistrelle I found flying around my living room last year (in Switzerland). I caught him in my butterfly net and released him outside. Even an adult is a tiny little creature.



(I'm not quite sure what the gunge in the net is, but I think he had spent some time failing to escape from my attic before I opened the trap-door and saw him swoop down into the house)

Guy