New bat species for the City of Nottingham

img_5667Bat Group member Amelia Reddish had a big surprise when she went to collect a bat that had been found on the outside wall of a care home close to Nottingham City centre.  Expecting it to be a pipistrelle or perhaps even a myotis species, which have been found grounded in the city, she was however extremely surprised when it turned out to be a rare barbastelle bat.

 

img_5658Barbastelle was first recorded in the county in 2011 and
since then Nottinghamshire Bat Group has been studying its distribution using detectors and more recently as part of our ‘Barbastelle Project’.  There is a breeding population on just over the county boundary in Lincolnshire which we now know through radio tracking to forage deep into our county.  There also seems to be a regular site on the west of the county on the border with Derbyshire which is as far as we know the most northerly site in the UK for the species.  It’s also quite likely that we have a breeding population in south Nottinghamshire close to the first county record. Last year one was caught close to Nottingham near the River Trent and this record represents the first from within the city boundary.

Once in care the bat was examined and found to be a male with no obvious signs of injury.  Amelia contacted a bat carer which experience of barbastelle bats for advice and after 5 days in care he was successfully released at the place where he was found.

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