When we couldn’t go where we planned this Easter, we went to our local canal to go bat-spotting. We were expecting to see no bats at all (we were really expecting the gates to be closed) but we saw so many. We had a bat spotter that we built ourselves when we were in Northumberland. Whenever a bat was near, it would make a click click click click click sound which were ultrasonic waves that a normal human ear probably could not hear. You can see (and hear through the bat detector) in this video.

This was filmed on the Grand Union Canal near Ladbroke Grove in London, we were there just after dusk which is the best time to see them. We think that the species of bat was the Pipistrelle bat, because they are the most common. However, they may be Daubenton’s bats though. They weigh 5g, which is equal to a 20p coin. They can eat 3,000 small insects in a night! The bats we saw were nesting under the bridges and liked to fly close to us at some points. One flew almost 1 foot away from my head!

When we got back we did some stargazing, like we have done every night for the past week or so, and now I’m writing this blog post. It has been a fun evening. And a special thanks to the the London Bat Group for giving us advice on where to find them!

(By the way, I might be adding a new live-streaming series called Birdcam Live where we spend all our time looking at a bird feeder with barely any birds coming. Keep checking the blog!)