Bats at Old Copse

The bats are a key part of life at Old Copse. One of the wood's great pleasures is to sit by the water's edge at the end of the day and wait for them to emerge as the light fades. They come whizzing out of the trees, zipping over our heads and swooping out over the pond. Although the fishermen told us these were Daubenton bats, we never knew if that was right or what other species were also there. So we were really pleased when Kevin Erwill of the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership and Martyn Cooke of the Surrey Bat Group agreed to come and spend a Sunday evening at Old Copse to help identify our bats.

Martyn arrived with some impressive kit; a large antenna sprouted from a backpack which turned out to hold a very sophisticated bat detector.

Bat detectorists

Down at a swim at the edge of the pond, after a bit of a wait the first bats came out - Soprano pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) and common pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pipistrellus). According to the Sussex Bat group both of these are widespread and fairly common in Sussex. Then as it got darker the Daubentons bats (Myotis daubentonii) came out to hunt across the pond. It was a real thrill to watch them through Martyn's infra red binoculars, which picked up not only the bats but their reflections as they flew over the water. It was a genuine privilege to watch and listen to something that's usually hidden in the dark.

This bit of film of Daubenton's from the Bat Conservation Trust (although not via infra red) gives an idea of what we saw.

By then it was almost pitch dark and we tried our luck in a different habitat, in the big clearing in OC1. Martyn's kit clearly picked up four more species:

• Serotine - (Eptesicus serotinus) - uncommon, widespread in Sussex
• Natterer (Myotis nattereri) - scarce, widespread in Sussex
• Brown Long-eared (Plecotus auritus) - relatively abundant, widespread in Sussex

And even what he was certain was a Bechstein's (Myotis bechsteinii), a very rare bat indeed. And who are we to argue with an expert?

So that's seven different types of bats identified in a couple of hours. According to Martyn there are 12 species at Gatwick, so it's likely that there are more than seven at Old Copse. Maybe I'll invest in a bat detector...

Thanks to both. It was a great evening.