|
|
| Pipistrelle Bat - July - Haworth |
|
|
Smallest bat in Britain and can be seen flying just after sunset. In winter they hibernate, venturing out when it gets warmer.
They roost in various places such as under house eves, causing no damage to the property and should be left undisturbed. In Britain it is illegal to disturb or kill bats. At different times of the year they will move from their roost, in winter preferring a north outlook and in summer south.
They can eat up to 3000 small insects in one night. The bat weighs about 8 grams, which is slightly more than a 2 pence coin. They produce one offspring a year; the baby at birth weighing about 2 gram, in weight terms is 25% of the adult size. This ratio means it is the heaviest baby mammal in the animal kingdom, a human would have to give birth to a 3 stone child to compete!
They are not blind but use echolocation to detect objects, sending out a high pitched sound which bounces off items, the time taken for the signal to return tells the bat how far away the object is.
Recently it has been discovered there are two species of Pipistrelle bat as the echolocation is of a different pitch from each other.
First bat seen in Haworth:
14th April 2006
14th March 2007
2nd April 2008
10th March 2009
9th April 2010
26 March 2011
7th April 2012
20th April 2013
4th April 2014
16th April 2015
Wingspan: 19 - 25cm
Lifespan: Up to 16 years
|
|
|
