Soprano Pipistrelle Roost Count

Twilight on Wednesday 24th June saw Natasha and I at Hanningfield Reservoir (EWT), sat on a picnic blanket, awaiting the emergence of over 500 bats. Essex Bat Group were running a Soprano Pipistrelle Roost Count, part of their work to map bats across Essex and track changes to their populations over time.

Hanningfield Reservoir.

Awaiting bats!

There are 10 species of bat found regularly in Essex, with Common and Soprano Pipistrelles being the two most common. Over 500 Soprano Pipistrelles were counted over the course of the emergence, which took just over an hour - Natasha and I personally counted 364 individual bats! There was also a large bat around, recorded on a bat detector and pegged as "noctule or leisler's or serotine".

Soprano Pipistrelle in blurry flight.

I got involved with the Roost Count at Hanningfield through my involvement with the Langdon Hills Bat Group, which formed last year through the Langdon Living Landscape (under the guidance of Essex Bat Group). We've been out to various sites across the Langdon Ridge to look for bats, and have discovered a number of different species in the area. If you're interested in getting involved with the Langdon Hills Bat Group, I'd recommend getting in touch with John Hunt (at Langdon Hills Country Park) at langdon.hills@btconnect.com. Please remember that all bat species and their roosts are legally protected in Britain.