Bats

Username John

I thought I had mice in the garage - heard em scuttling about, between the felt and the slate.
But was coming in there - I saw about 20 bats fly out, one after another out of the apex of the roof.
So tis bats I have I'm thinking, and not mice...

They don't bother me too much, so they can stay where they are, for now anyways. Tis nice to see em flying around...

Are bats protected? I have it in me head that they might be?

And what is it bats do? What do they eat - is it midges and the likes?

Genghis Cant

Username John wrote: »

I thought I had mice in the garage - heard em scuttling about, between the felt and the slate.
But was coming in there - I saw about 20 bats fly out, one after another out of the apex of the roof.
So tis bats I have I'm thinking, and not mice...

They don't bother me too much, so they can stay where they are, for now anyways. Tis nice to see em flying around...

Are bats protected? I have it in me head that they might be?

And what is it bats do? What do they eat - is it midges and the likes?

Indeed they are protected. They're a lovely little mammal, though much maligned.
They eat insects.

Here's a read.

http://www.batconservationireland.org/

Kovu

Yes they're protected, have a family of them in the old homehouse. They eat moths and the like. Found one about two years ago in the middle of the kitchen floor, picked him up with kitchen towel and put him in a dark corner of the hayshed. Still no idea how he got in.

Love watching their acrobatics in the last light of the evening, can still hear them too, hurrah for sharp ears!

Green farmer

Your garage could be a bat nursery location john. You normally might have a small few bats about but this number might have swelled at this time of year making them noticeable. Chances are this number will reduce again soon, making their presence unnoticeable.

KatyMac

Genghis Cant wrote: »

Indeed they are protected. They're a lovely little mammal, though much maligned.

They might be maligned but they are dirty little f**kers. They are in the roof of our church and it's a nightmare to keep the place clean as they wee and poop everywhere.

Bullocks

KatyMac wrote: »

They might be maligned but they are dirty little f**kers. They are in the roof of our church and it's a nightmare to keep the place clean as they wee and poop everywhere.

Fair play to them , let them keep the priest busy !
We have them here and don't get any bother from them bar a bit of poop where they sleep/hang . Speedy little hoors aswell

patsy_mccabe

They are protected but don't tell the authorities. You won't be able to fart near them without permission.

Genghis Cant

KatyMac wrote: »

They might be maligned but they are dirty little f**kers. They are in the church and it's a nightmare to keep the place clean as they wee and poop everywhere.

Indeed.

Bullocks

Genghis Cant wrote: »

Indeed.

Excellent wordplay there Genghis!

gctest50

KatyMac wrote: »

They might be maligned but they are dirty little f**kers. They are in the roof of our church and it's a nightmare to keep the place clean as they wee and poop everywhere.

there's protestant and catholic bats too - some prefer the different shape of the roof n stuff

or something like that

Miname

As patsy said , you seen nothing, if anyone asks they are mice on red bull.

Birdnuts

Each bat will eat up to 3000 midges and other pest insects every night so very much the farmers friend. If there in a very awkward spot and you need to move them on then the NPWS or Bat conservation Ireland will advise on the best way of going about it.

Capercaillie

KatyMac wrote: »

They might be maligned but they are dirty little f**kers. They are in the roof of our church and it's a nightmare to keep the place clean as they wee and poop everywhere.

Buy a good sweeping brush, not that expensive.

orm0nd

Capercaillie wrote: »

Buy a good sweeping brush, not that expensive.

not much good if they sh1t on brass railings etc , very hard to restore

Capercaillie

orm0nd wrote: »

not much good if they sh1t on brass railings etc , very hard to restore

Symptomatic of Ireland's position on wildlife, no room for it. Don't want it near me. A house near me puts up plastic bags under eaves to stop House Martins nesting. Another lad I know stops swallows nesting in his sheds.

greysides

Capercaillie wrote: »

Symptomatic of Ireland's position on wildlife, no room for it. Don't want it near me. A house near me puts up plastic bags under eaves to stop House Martins nesting. Another lad I know stops swallows nesting in his sheds.

Had the delight of some rather innocent swallows nest under my open porch. Not really high enough so used the back door for several months till they left. A paper under the nest made later cleaning up a non-issue.

I knew a man once who loved his South African visitors and used to leave a hose dripping on mud for them. When he had his house sprayed (and he was a very fastidious man) it was after they left and the nests were covered up to protect them. Brilliant character.

Username John

Capercaillie wrote: »

Symptomatic of Ireland's position on wildlife, no room for it. Don't want it near me. A house near me puts up plastic bags under eaves to stop House Martins nesting. Another lad I know stops swallows nesting in his sheds.

greysides wrote: »

Had the delight of some rather innocent swallows nest under my open porch. Not really high enough so used the back door for several months till they left. A paper under the nest made later cleaning up a non-issue.

I knew a man once who loved his South African visitors and used to leave a hose dripping on mud for them. When he had his house sprayed (and he was a very fastidious man) it was after they left and the nests were covered up to protect them. Brilliant character.

I can see both sides...

When we were young, we had swallows under the eave, and they destroyed the place, so when they were gone, we put up plastic to stop them building again...
I think if there was small kids around, I would be all for stopping em building to be honest.

Anyways, the bats are safe enough for now anyways...

greysides

Username John wrote: »

Anyways, the bats are safe enough for now anyways...

Won't mention Rabies then....

patsy_mccabe

We had swallows nesting in the cab of the tractor.

Username John

greysides wrote: »

Won't mention Rabies then....

Rabies! :eek:

Bats?...

What bats?

syklops

Username John wrote: »

I can see both sides...

When we were young, we had swallows under the eave, and they destroyed the place, so when they were gone, we put up plastic to stop them building again...
I think if there was small kids around, I would be all for stopping em building to be honest.

Anyways, the bats are safe enough for now anyways...

Swallows destroyed your home? :eek:

How did they do that?

Username John

syklops wrote: »

Swallows destroyed your home? :eek:

How did they do that?

Not my home - they destroyed 'the place'

Do you not know the difference?

Capercaillie

Username John wrote: »

I can see both sides...

When we were young, we had swallows under the eave, and they destroyed the place, so when they were gone, we put up plastic to stop them building again...
I think if there was small kids around, I would be all for stopping em building to be honest.

Anyways, the bats are safe enough for now anyways...

No risk with swallows and small children. The swallows fly back all the way from South Africa to find the place they nest in is gone. I find that depressing.

syklops

Username John wrote: »

Not my home - they destroyed 'the place'

Do you not know the difference?

The wink prevents that comment from being wankerish.

Im still trying to understand how swallows destroyed anything.

Username John

Capercaillie wrote: »

No risk with swallows and small children. The swallows fly back all the way from South Africa to find the place they nest in is gone. I find that depressing.

It was more having ****e around the place (on the footpath as we had it) No one wants their kids to be around that. The option is to clean the footpath every few hours, which is an option, but as below, I would just prefer to not have the situation.

syklops wrote: »

The wink prevents that comment from being wankerish.

Im still trying to understand how swallows destroyed anything.

Ah - you were being earnest with your comment...

Basically they shat all over the front of the house - wall, window, footpath. Some people might say this is only a small thing, I wouldn't be one of them.

Genghis Cant

When I was building my house, the Swallows took to build inside the roof up in the apex under the felt, I hadn't the ceilings slabbed out nor windows in. I slabbed away all rooms bar one slab to allow access and left the windows out till they reared a brood. That's nearly 20 year ago and the vacant nest is still there!

Bullocks

Username John wrote: »

It was more having ****e around the place (on the footpath as we had it) No one wants their kids to be around that. The option is to clean the footpath every few hours, which is an option, but as below, I would just prefer to not have the situation.



Ah - you were being earnest with your comment...

Basically they shat all over the front of the house - wall, window, footpath. Some people might say this is only a small thing, I wouldn't be one of them.

Don't mind the swallow , I have a young lad here that would nearly ****e on the path !

Username John

Was just watching my newly found neighbours there for a while - I counted about 50 bats coming out, over the last 10 mins or so...
And I can hear another few noising inside still...

I dunno is that a lot or not...

Bullocks

Username John wrote: »

Was just watching my newly found neighbours there for a while - I counted about 50 bats coming out, over the last 10 mins or so...
And I can hear another few noising inside still...

I dunno is that a lot or not...

I'd say that's a good few alright . We have them for years here but I never thought to count them . They are nesting in the old flour bags that the grandfather hung over the collars of the hayshed so it's hard to know how many would even fit

Base price

My eldest Brother built an extension to my late Uncles house a few years ago but never got around to finishing it - he ran out of cha ching's. It has a roof, internal walls and windows but has no internal ceilings or plaster work inside, iykwim.
4 or 5 years ago during the Winter we noticed small droppings/tiny pellets on the floor along the outer wall of the scullery. At the time we couldn't figure out what they were, they were too small to be mouse ****. It wasn't a problem as the room was not used other than walking through it via the back door to get into the original house. Eventually curiosity got the better and he placed 4 cameras from a CCTV security system (that I bought for security in the yard) towards the timbers holding up the roof. Nothing showed up after a few nights so he placed one camera looking up between the external wall and the timber beam that holds up the roof. Video showed two bats hanging from the felt on the inside of the roof Since then the two have increased in number to eight plus a bit more **** on the floor :eek:
Normally the bats move out in June/July and don't arrive back until the weather gets colder in October/November. This year they disappeared sometime in June but last Monday they arrived back. We knew they were back due to the ****/droppings on the floor. My Brother powered up the CCTV cameras and sure enough they are back. Yesterday at about 11am I shone a flashlight up between the gap and I could see two little ones hanging from the roof felt.
I know feck all about bats other than they lived in my grandparents byre when I was a child and got caught in my hair when I was walking back from fishing in the lake on a fine Summers evening.
** I presume that they are back roosting in the house because the weather is wet and **** in Longford this Summer.

feargale

Username John wrote: »

Rabies! :eek:
Bats?...

Don't handle them. In recent years a biologist in the North of England handled a bat, got bitten and died. I don't know if he got rabies or something else. That doesn't matter because he doesn't know either.

Base price

feargale wrote: »

Don't handle them. In recent years a biologist in the North of England handled a bat, got bitten and died. I don't know if he got rabies or something else. That doesn't matter because he doesn't know either.

For fecks sake if a Biologist in the North of England got bitten by a rabbit Bat then I think we would all know about it in Ireland - any quotes to the article???
Over the years I have handled bats that have got caught up in the sheds with bailing twine, falling down behind timber and machinery in the yard. I couldn't tell you what species they were but they beautiful little creatures.
Although they have feck all respect for the GLAS boxes that we put up around the farm.

feargale

Base price wrote: »

For fecks sake if a Biologist in the North of England got bitten by a rabbit Bat then I think we would all know about it in Ireland - any quotes to the article???

Sorry. Didn't intend to drive you bats. It was in a reputable newspaper ( I don't read any others.) I can't even remember how long ago, but last five years, I would say.
You wouldn't know about it if you didn't read that paper.

Base price wrote: »

Over the years I have handled bats that have got caught up in the sheds with bailing twine, falling down behind timber and machinery in the yard. I couldn't tell you what species they were but they beautiful little creatures.

I wish you a big funeral.

Birdnuts

Base price wrote: »

For fecks sake if a Biologist in the North of England got bitten by a rabbit Bat then I think we would all know about it in Ireland - any quotes to the article???
Over the years I have handled bats that have got caught up in the sheds with bailing twine, falling down behind timber and machinery in the yard. I couldn't tell you what species they were but they beautiful little creatures.
Although they have feck all respect for the GLAS boxes that we put up around the farm.

You have a better chance of winning Euro millions then catching rabies off any Irish bat species, no matter how often you handle them. There has never been any recorded case in this country. The only bat species worldwide that represents a hazard in this regard is the Vampire bat of Central America. So the average Irish person has nothing to fear in that regards, unless you are on holidays in the rainforests of Mexico;)

Ms Doubtfire1

bats do carry rabies. In pretty much every country of the world .As Ireland is Rabies free (so far) chances are very slim you'd catch rabies from an irish bat.They can bite though if roughly handled. Bats are highly protected in Ireland. I have a few old sheds who have second stories and one of them holds bats.I'm delighted with them. They decimate the infuriating midgets....and my cats can watch them for hours in the evening .Brilliant show.:D

http://www.rte.ie/radio/mooneygoeswild/factsheets/mammals/index2.html

kerry cow

Last week I see we have bats going in under the lead around a chimney of a 20 year.old house . There now seems to be a small leak after them .I need to get them out of there and repair . A year ago they had squeezed into a gap in my garage windows that was not seal correctly .One night when they had fly out I sealed it .and now last week I see them on the house chimney .need to move them permanently .pm me any sound advice
Thanks

Ms Doubtfire1

no sound advice.you're not allowed to go near them until the leave by themselves which they will do in about 8 weeks.Messing with bats is a legal offence and you will be prosecuted.

http://www.batconservationireland.org/irish-bats/protection-law

For householders with a bat roost and genuine concerns or phobia of bats we urge that you contact your local wildlife ranger or NIEA staff member who will be able to advise you on what you can do.