Monday 28th July at 9pm saw members of the BNHS gather at Robert Colby’s house for our ‘Bat Evening’. Robert’s back garden leads directly onto the golf course which is very handy as the bat survey was across the golf course. In attendance were: Alison, Bill, Colin, Glenn, Jean, Peter, Robert and two invited guests, Ella Gibbs and Yvonne Brewster. Ella and Yvonne are volunteers at the Essex Bat Group, both are proficient and well trained in all aspects of bats’ wellbeing and protection. They brought with them bat detectors for each of us and set them to various frequencies to detect certain species as their calls all vary. The bat count proved very successful along the route that Glenn and Alison had mapped out and included the following:
Common Pipistrells, Soprano Pipistrells and Noctule Bats. Occasionally we saw them fly past at speed in the darkness. Yvonne confirmed that the amount of activity indicated that a roost was nearby (to be investigated further).
About halfway round our walk in the more densely wooded areas on the edges of the golf course we came across some unusual findings. First spotted were several Glow Worms which are described already in the Spring Bulletin 2025, and then to our amazement some luminous fungi. Photograph from the internet of a Pipistrelle Bat
This article is an abridged version of the one published in the BNHS Summer Bulletin 2025