Araucaria Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 A colony of bats has very recently moved into our old stone-built house: they are leaving and entering by a gap between the windowframe and the lintel above our kitchen window. We assume that they will be living in a space inside the stone walls, which are about 60cm thick, and built of scrappy schist with very soft mortar between the stones.We only noticed this yesterday so we haven't had a.lot of time to observe them, but they are small bats, their bodies not much bigger than a mouse, and their droppings look very like what a mouse would leave (size and shape). As they enter and leave we can hear a distinct chirruping/rustling noise.The problem we've got is this. The shutters to this window have been open since we last came back from a trip away, in November last year. We're going away again for six weeks tomorrow, and normally we'd shut the shutters. The shutters are old and made of wood, but I'm concerned that they might possible fit well enough to deny the bats entry (or exit). It's true very little else in the house fits that well, but these do wedge fairly tightly into the aperture.Is it worthwhile boring a couple of holes in the shutters to provide access? If so, would it best to do so near the top, that is, near the lintel where they live, or would lower down be better? And what size hole?It's possible, but I think not very likely, that the bats have been here longer than the last couple of weeks (when we first noticed the droppings, and assumed they were mice). They might just be using a new entrance/exit hole. They are quite numerous: certainly not just one or two, possible dozens (I can't tell if it is lots of bats flying out, that is, making one-way trips, or the same bats flying in and then out again). I'd previously thought we might have had bats in our large empty attic, but I'd never seen any there - it has enough access to the outside under the eaves for bats the size of small owls to move in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Can we talk on the phone and worry about the forum later?If you send me your number I will call you or you can call me if you wish.Chris 05 49 87 65 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araucaria Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 We tried taking pictures of the bats as they emerged, but they move very quickly, and our digital cameras pause for a second before taking a picture. I thought that I'd not got a single picture, but in fact in one of the twenty or thirty pictures of our very tatty window frames, I found this fellow just looking out:[IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss293/Vanman15/exitabat.jpg[/IMG]If anyone knows what species this is, I'd love to know. The bricks are normal brick size! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 It's a common house brick! [6][Www][:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 From what I can see it looks like a Common Serotine.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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