Bat roosts over winter

Musefan

Hi. We had bats over the summer, roosting in the soffit/cavity wall of three corners of the house. Last winter was our first winter here and we didn’t hear a thing. It was March/April before there was any sign of them. Funnily enough, it seems like they have mostly stuck around now and I hear them periodically over the last few months with fairly sporadic chirping and scarpering around in the cavity. I know it’s them for definite, as it’s the same sound as over the Summer. I’ve read that they usually don’t roost in one place all year- does that mean they are unlikely to use the walls/soffit as their summer roost now?

Graces7

Musefan wrote: »

Hi. We had bats over the summer, roosting in the soffit/cavity wall of three corners of the house. Last winter was our first winter here and we didn’t hear a thing. It was March/April before there was any sign of them. Funnily enough, it seems like they have mostly stuck around now and I hear them periodically over the last few months with fairly sporadic chirping and scarpering around in the cavity. I know it’s them for definite, as it’s the same sound as over the Summer. I’ve read that they usually don’t roost in one place all year- does that mean they are unlikely to use the walls/soffit as their summer roost now?

My awareness is that once they are in a place they stay there. I was once trying to get the use of a small abandoned church but as is it now a bat roost and thus protected.... the ranger said they will never leave. I was happy they had found a sanctuary.

Seth Brundle

Do they not have different summer and winter roosts?

Graces7

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Do they not have different summer and winter roosts?

Trying to remember what the ranger said; this was in Killarney National Park. Long time ago... I seem to remember; hang on while I google!

Yes , summer roosts and winter roosts. I think she said they return to the same roosts and thus once they had adopted that place they could not be moved ? At one rental they were in the shed .

Fascinating creatures. One got stuck in the downpipe from the roof, and I got to handle it briefly extricating it, and the structure of the wings...…. So beautiful.

x567

I (maybe naively) thought that bats would be hibernating at the moment, but I saw one at about 5pm this evening feasting on insects over mixed woodland...

Musefan

Hi, yes I am aware that they tend to return to the same place for summer roosts or winter hibernation but I was wondering if they have stayed over the summer and also wintered here, whether they will move to a different summer roost instead then.

There were no sounds of them last winter, ergo we didn’t even know they were there. Last spring, we made significant upgrades to the heating & attic insulation and I am wondering if they were perhaps hibernating fully last winter, and the heat of the house over this winter has kept them awake more often. They’re particularly noisy at the moment, over the last week or so.