I have joined Bat Association to help with their current joined project Life at night. It is reasearching the influence of lights (especially church lights) on the behaviour of bats. They are trying 3 different lights (standard and 2 other - I think red and another one that I can't remember right now) too see if the new or same lighting in any way changes the time when they start flying out to feed. They are mainly centering their attention on Lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros)
as it seems this species is more endangered.
The problem with lightning is, if the lights are too bright the bats will fly out later and not soon after the sunset when the insect numbers are the highest. This results in bats getting less feed as they miss the insect peak. If this happens too often there is a high risk of starvation.
Hopefully with these results we'll be able to see which lights disturb them the least (9 churches are included in the project, from 3 different areas. Three in the same area, each with different lighting for a year). I only hope, since the association will only be able to strongly suggest the new lighting (if it is different than the previous one) to the church and people, that they will listen and change it for the bats.
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| Cute female resting after returning from feeding. |
I was also lucky enough to help with measuring of babies. Well actually I didn't do a lot of measuring since to be able to do that one had to first climb above the bells (mind you getting to the bells wasn't a problem), and as I am a bit on the shorter side, reaching all the hand or leg holds - no starirs! - that others before me (all taller than me by 10cm) used proved impossible. But then I got to explore other rooms next to the bells (where I was able to take this photo) as others did the measuring. As you can see I didn't find any baby bats, but this female was nice enough to pose for a bit.
Hopefully next time (in another church) I get to photo and maybe even hold a baby bat too.
