Any evening visitor to the estate will quickly notice the presence of common pipistrelle bats and soprano pipistrelle bats from May through to October. As dusk approaches, these small and acrobatic bats can be viewed flitting around the trees and buildings, feeding on the wing. Should you choose to walk down to the thatched huts on Lime Walk you may be lucky enough to witness a brown long-eared bat leaving one of the huts. The bats use the huts as a feeding post, carrying in large moths to eat under cover. As a result, the floors are littered with glittering moth wings, revealing their preference for the yellow and copper underwing moth species which abound in the woodlands.
Bat detectors often pick up some of the larger bat species flying high overhead. Noctules and serotines can be detected in this way but are seldom seen. Natterer's bat is also picked up on the detectors from time to time. As darkness takes hold a visit to the lake is worthwhile, as the Daubenton’s bats begin their nightly feeding session. Skimming across the surface of the water, these bats use their tail membrane as a gif to scoop insects from the surface of the water. Recordings made in 2018 by Peter Flory, using a static bat detector, suggested the presence of another species, the barbastelle. Though a rare bat and therefore unlikely, this was backed up by two separate recordings in 2020, made by Rose-Ann Movsovic, during our public bat walks. As a result, we will be conducting further surveys throughout the 2021 season in order to verify these findings.
