Bats again

[Bastet]

We have two or three bats (pipastrelles - sp? ) which regularly swoop around our garden, hopefully catching all the less desirable insects. We don't know where they normally roost, suspect it's somewhere in our double story  unrenovated outbuilding or small open hanger. However, they seem to have taken up residence behind a bedroom shutter.

This must have been recently as only a couple of weeks ago, these shutters were opened and closed daily for a period of 10 days. I only discovered this new abode a couple of days ago when I shut the shutters to keep the heat out and realised 2 bats were flapping around desperately in full sunshine, trying to perch on the wall of the house. I opened the shutters asap, and they settled down again, where they've been since.  

What I'd like to know is, if there are 2 bats here, are there likely to be more nearby, or are these just very independent individuals?  Like a previous poster, I would love to encourage more into our garden.

 Also, are they likely to move again?  I don't want to risk disturbing them again by closing the shutters during the day, or disorient them by closing them at night and rendering them without their roost, but I'm not sure we can leave the shutters open forever....

I found the link to the site with the info about the bat watching projects very interesting;  there's one near where we live, in Melle, on the 25th August.

[Cassis]

It's very common for bats to roost behind open shutters - they make perfect bat roosting places.  If they have just started using yours then presumably they have somewhere else as an alternative?

If you can handle a saw and a screwdriver why not make a bat box?  Instructions here:

Build Your Own Bat Box

[chris pp]

Try and get along to the evening in Melle if you can, they are nice folk and it will be interesting, there should be 2 or 3 people from Deux-Sevres Nature et Environement and someone from the Conservatire d'espaces naturels de Poitou-Charentes.

How's your French?

Chris

 

[Bastet]

We'd thought about making bat boxes as they obviously like that wall. 

If we shut the shutters while they were out hunting, would they be distressed at finding their roost gone, or do you think they would settle down elsewhere without too much problem? I checked again this morning and there seems to be a large one and a tiny one - adult and youngster?     Is it unusual to find only a couple together?

[quote user="chris pp"].

How's your French?

Chris

[/quote]

Passable; it depends on how fast it's spoken. I'll like to go along to this evening; we'll have to swat up on bat vocabulary!

[Lori]

We have the same thing.  We recently replaced our windows and the menuisier had to take down the volets to put in the new windows.  When he took one of our bedroom volets down, I saw all these "droppings" on the stone wall.  Looked kind of like rat droppings.  I asked my farmer neighbor what she thought it was and she thought it was mice.  When the menuisier came he said, oh no, they are bats.  We don't have screens on our bedroom windows, so that didn't thrill me, but I realize they are considered a good thing, so I didn't freak out.  However, once the new windows were installed and the volets put back - I had clean the wall of "droppings" - apparently the bats came back as the "droppings" are now back again.  So, maybe the disruption didn't bother them.