This is officially my 300th post, and this evening I was leading a bat walk for the RSPB. I am the outdoor leader for the Maidstone RSPB Group and I had organised this walk as part of the program of outdoor meetings. Despite only 4 RSPB members turning up, there was a good turn-out with 23 people joining me - with most people seeing adverts of the walk elsewhere, including my blog.
It was a very pleasant evening with only a few spots of rain towards the end of the walk, and there were lots of midges to bite us and for the bats to feed on.
The first bats detected were Noctule and Common Pipistrelle with both species feeding around the old Lime trees west of Mote House. The Noctule proved rather difficult to find despite detectors picking up its echolocation. We then moved down to the Weir bridge where we had good but brief views of Noctules and loads of Soprano Pipistrelles were hunting the many midges above and between us.
We then walked north to the Old Ashford Road (by the Waterfall), and then west along the road to the Old Boathouse and duck feeding area. Here we watched both pipistrelle species hunting insects whilst also detecting a Serotine, and several Daubenton's bats were observed hunting low over the Lake.
Hi, my name is Simon. My local patch is Mote Park, one of Kent’s largest parks and right on the edge of Maidstone, the county town of Kent. It is a former country estate, and records of the Park date back since before the 14th century. The park has a variety of habitats and this blog will note all the wildlife that I encounter in them.
3 comments:
Simon ,
Five species of Bat is a good result .
Well done .
Well done Simon for showing the public our wildlife.
Hi Simon,
Thanks very much for another great walk.
We all really appreciate the effort and the time you take to show people our local wildlife.
Thank you.
Simon
Post a Comment