{"id":330,"date":"2019-10-07T15:38:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T14:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/cheltenhamwildlife\/?p=330"},"modified":"2024-05-30T09:53:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T09:53:45","slug":"uk-bat-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/2019\/10\/07\/uk-bat-species\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Bat species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We have about 17\nspecies of bat in the UK. World-wide there are about 1,300 species of bats. In\nthe UK all bats eat insects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Around this time\nof year you are less likely to see bats flying. Some might be mating ready to\ngive birth to their young in spring, some might be entering extended periods of\nsleep.&nbsp; As the cold, long, winter months\ndraw in <strong>bats will begin to hibernate<\/strong>.\nThis is usually from around November till March\/April \u2013 depending on the\nweather. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As they hibernate they lower\ntheir body temperature and their metabolic rate slows. This means they are able\nto survive through the winter on the fat reserves they have stored during the\nrest of the year. During the colder months there will also be fewer insects\nabout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In our bat walks\naround Pittville Park we have recorded 4 species. We can have a pretty good\nguess at identifying the species based on their size, flight, habitat and time\nof night they are active.&nbsp; But, to\nidentify them we also need to analyse their calls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Common pipistrelle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Pipistrelles are\nour most common bat. They have an erratic\nflight, twisting and turning in the air catching a range of small flies, aquatic\nmidges and mosquitos. They can eat 3,000 insects a night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Around Pittville Park you might see them around 20 minutes after sunset flying below the tree-tops around the paths and lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"782\" height=\"522\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/159\/sites\/325\/2019\/11\/14.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/159\/sites\/325\/2019\/11\/14.jpg 782w, https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/159\/sites\/325\/2019\/11\/14-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/159\/sites\/325\/2019\/11\/14-768x513.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 782px) 100vw, 782px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Image &#8211; Bat Conservation Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Soprano\npipistrelle<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The soprano pipistrelle\nis our smallest bat species. It was only identified in the 1990\u2019s as a separate\nspecies. To distinguish them from the common pipistrelle we need to look at\ntheir calls \u2013 they call at a lower frequency than their larger cousins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Noctules<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nnoctule bat is one of the largest of our bat species. It is usually the first\nbat to appear in the evening, sometimes even before sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\nfly quite high and fast and behave differently to the pipistrelles. We have\nseen them at Pittville Park flying in straight lines over the fields. As they\nfeed they suddenly dive down taking insects in flight. They will eat small\ninsects early in the year and later beetles and maybe moths. Around the park we\nhave seen them close to the lights over the paths around the lakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Daubenton\u2019s\nbat<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Daubenton\u2019s bats are also known as the water bat. They fly low over water\nusing their feet and tail to scoop up small insects, such as midges,\ncaddisflies and mayflies. At Pittville Park they can be seen flying just a few\ncentimeters above the surface of the lake. They are a small to medium-sized\nbat. They have a brownish fur and a paler silverfish belly that you can\nsometimes see as they fly close to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have about 17 species of bat in the UK. World-wide there are about 1,300 species of bats. In the UK all bats eat insects. Around this time of year [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bats"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/bats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}