Grey long-eared Bat

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Grey long-eared Bat

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Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 11:06 am Post subject: Grey long-eared Bat
Found this little fella dead outside the house this morning - I'm pretty sure it's Grey Long-eared Bat which is not a threatened species.

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 11:56 am Post subject:
Poor little thing. Why do you think it is Grey Long-eared rather than Brown Long-eared? I can't see enough from the photograph. Grey Long-eared is very rare in Britain. Henry

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 2:15 pm Post subject:
I got my ID from https://www.bats.org.uk/pages/uk_bats.html Buzzy and based it on the fact it has a distinctly black face. Also it is at the upper end of the size range and Greys are slightly bigger that Browns. Finally don't forget I am in France, not the UK where it is more widespread ... but it could equally be a Brown

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42223
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 2:27 pm Post subject:
He's not dead, he's just resting. Probably pining for the fjords.

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 5:20 pm Post subject:

Green Rosie wrote:

I got my ID from https://www.bats.org.uk/pages/uk_bats.html Buzzy and based it on the fact it has a distinctly black face. Also it is at the upper end of the size range and Greys are slightly bigger that Browns. Finally don't forget I am in France, not the UK where it is more widespread ... but it could equally be a Brown

Oh yes, I realised you were in France, and wasn't arguing with your ID - just wondered why you thought Grey rather than Brown.

Henry

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35128
Location: Devon

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 9:26 pm Post subject:
Cool ears what ever colour they are! Colateral damage by the cat?

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 9:44 pm Post subject:
Not sure - there is a little bit if damage to one wing but no damage to the body - it could have flown into the window

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35128
Location: Devon

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 9:50 pm Post subject:

Green Rosie wrote:

Not sure - there is a little bit if damage to one wing but no damage to the body - it could have flown into the window

Would a bat do that? With echolocation surely a window is as solid as a wall.

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 9:51 pm Post subject:
Not sure - I found it near the window and thought it a possibility. Cat is more likely.

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 13 10:48 pm Post subject:

Green Rosie wrote:

Not sure - there is a little bit if damage to one wing but no damage to the body - it could have flown into the window

Most unlikely that a bat would fly into a window with enough force to damage itself. They do fly at windows - I spoke to one person who said the bats (these were also Long-eared bats) were banging against the window trying to get in (implication - to get at her), but I explained that all they were really doing was picking the moths and other insects off the window that had been drawn there by the light in the room!

Cat is much more likely - sadly cats invent the most ingenious methods for catching bats. If you still have the body, look at the wing membranes for tiny pinholes - made by cat claws.

Henry

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 13 7:04 am Post subject:

buzzy wrote:

Cat is much more likely - sadly cats invent the most ingenious methods for catching bats. If you still have the body, look at the wing membranes for tiny pinholes - made by cat claws.

Henry

Yup - small pinholes in one wing

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 13 5:16 pm Post subject:

Green Rosie wrote:

buzzy wrote:

Cat is much more likely - sadly cats invent the most ingenious methods for catching bats. If you still have the body, look at the wing membranes for tiny pinholes - made by cat claws.

Henry

Yup - small pinholes in one wing

Should you find any more dead Long-eared Bats it may be that the cat (yours?) has found a roost, and is hooking them as they emerge from their hole. May require fencing off. If it is your cat and you can keep it inside at dawn and dusk, that should also reduce the chances of "fatal encounters".

Henry

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 13 8:16 pm Post subject:
We have loads of bats here as well as 4 outdoor mousing cats. Unfortunately the price we pay for cats to keep the mouse numbers down is some fatalities of bats and birds. I doubt the cats have found a roost - I think it more likely one of them took a swipe at a passing bat and caught it that way.

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