Bat Sh!t - delighted

my3cents

Discovered droppings in one of our wooden sheds that turn out to be from bats. http://www.acerecology.co.uk/bat-droppings/ indicate they are probably Common pipistrelle. The shed roof has a gap at the apex where two boards meet at an angle. The bats get in through a 15mm (at max) wide gap on the outside and follow along inside the roof to get inside the shed.

Not seen any actual bats yet in the shed, although I see them most nights along the adjoining river with confirmed Daubenton’s (there's a bat survey here each year).

OK so only a fyi post but I had to tell someone

FortySeven

my3cents wrote: »

Discovered droppings in one of our wooden sheds that turn out to be from bats. http://www.acerecology.co.uk/bat-droppings/ indicate they are probably Common pipistrelle. The shed roof has a gap at the apex where two boards meet at an angle. The bats get in through a 15mm (at max) wide gap on the outside and follow along inside the roof to get inside the shed.

Not seen any actual bats yet in the shed, although I see them most nights along the adjoining river with confirmed Daubenton’s (there's a bat survey here each year).

OK so only a fyi post but I had to tell someone

I'm afraid where the droppings are found a rank smell will follow. Not the droppings themselves which are dry but get a few generations through that she'd and it will be unusable storage soon enough.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

FortySeven wrote: »

I'm afraid where the droppings are found a rank smell will follow. Not the droppings themselves which are dry but get a few generations through that she'd and it will be unusable storage soon enough.

Not with our bats. The species here have dry odourless droppings. I have them in the attic for many years. No smell.

The shed can easily be brushed out if the OP is concerned.

FortySeven

Destiny Early Piecemeal wrote: »

Not with our bats. The species here have dry odourless droppings. I have them in the attic for many years. No smell.

The shed can easily be brushed out if the OP is concerned.

I have pipistrelle in the attic. It is not the guano that smells but the urine as far as I am aware. I am all for wildlife conservation. Not saying to move them on but it can be an idea to build them a box to roost in to protect any stored items of value.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Bat dropping in Britain and Ireland only smell if they get wet.

my3cents

The shed is dry and my wife just brushes them up every so often. They don't roost their all the time. Will go a month with it all clean and all of a sudden there is a load to clean up but no actual bats.

CJhaughey

I see bats every evening around my house, I'd love to get a bat detector to find the frequencies they use to ID them.

my3cents

CJhaughey wrote: »

I see bats every evening around my house, I'd love to get a bat detector to find the frequencies they use to ID them.

We get someone from a bat group come out twice a year to do a survey. They use a bat detector tuned to specific frequencies. I think because of their rarity and the fact we are on a river they are looking for Daubentons and they normally find a few. Quote strange with the Daubentons they seem to move around a lot, can see about 10 or more of them one night then not see one in the same spot at the same time of night for another year. I'm assuming the bats that fly just above the water are Daubentons. The pipestrels are nearly always around and fly much higher up.

Anyway I thought I'd get myself a bat detector but changed my plans when I saw the prices. Checked again now and they are a little cheaper than I remember but £100 sterling seems to be the price mark where you start to get most of the features I'd want.

CJhaughey

I downloaded an Android app for my phone called USB Bat Detector, its an Irish app designed to pick up Irish bat species.
I don't have a separate USB Mic but if I just try it out it should hopefully give me an indication of what I have around me, like you I am close to a river surrpunded by mature trees.
I have seen them flying around at dusk and even in fairly bright conditions.
If this rotten weather eases I will be able to try it out.

Alun

I'd be surprised if a standard phone mic would be able to pick up anything in the 45-55kHz range which is where most common bats are found. Some species go much higher than this.

I have a Magenta Bat MkIIb that I made myself from a kit, which was by far the cheapest I found.

http://www.nhbs.com/title/180577/magenta-mkii-bat-detector-kit

CJhaughey

I can actually hear some of the bats calls, so a phone mic may be able to pick some up.

Special Circumstances

CJhaughey wrote: »

I can actually hear some of the bats calls, so a phone mic may be able to pick some up.

We have leislers bats locally as far as I can make out. My hearing is pretty much wrecked but herself says she can hear them. Even leislers would be pushing it for most people but maybe with some doppler effect going on it would bring them into hearing range for people with good ears.

That app is interesting, will have to check it out.

Microphones and any system setup for digitizing human speech are awkward for stuff outta human hearing range. Cheap/reasonable mikes rarely specify frequency response beyond 20kHz. I suspect the digitizing for voicecalls would chuck a lot or all of the higher frequency coming through phone mike away, but recording for playback on the device would try to be more faithful to the original signal.

Alun

CJhaughey wrote: »

I can actually hear some of the bats calls, so a phone mic may be able to pick some up.

It's not impossible, if your hearing is extremely good that you could be hearing the echolocation sounds of some of the bats that have echolocation frequencies down in the 20-25kHz region such as Noctules ore Leislers. However it's more likely you're hearing their social calls which are well within the audible range. These are used for all kinds of purposes such as communication between mothers and young or co-ordinating food foraging and can be heard during flight or close to roosts.

Special Circumstances

Here's what I'm hoping is batsh1t... can anyone confirm this for me?

my3cents

Thats much the same as I have. If you check out the link in my first post you can probably work out which bats from the size and shape plus a few other features.

Special Circumstances

my3cents wrote: »

Thats much the same as I have. If you check out the link in my first post you can probably work out which bats from the size and shape plus a few other features.

I'm still leaning toward leisler rather than pipistrelle, but it's possible both are local. I used to often see bats very early, not fully dark, doing formula 1 laps of the housing estate. I haven't noticed as much of the "laps" this last year, more sporadic sightings, and later and darker.