Bats? Pull the other one.....

[scottnsilky]

Sitting here at dusk, in the gloaming, I saw two flying animals flit past the window, they looked like bats, very similar to what I see during the summer at dusk, but it's not even the middle of February! How can it be a bat? Well, I searched online, and it seems on a warm night in February they might wake up for a snack and a drink. Today was a beautiful spring-like day here in south Lancashire, so maybe a couple or so might have ventured out for a nibble. I was really chuffed to see them again, spring is just around the corner?

[maximan]

We also have bats but this time of the year it's a bit chilly to sit out and look for them.
You mentioned there were two of them and that is all we see at any one time.
As they have been seen by us for over 20 years I assume they have had young although googling their life span they can live for 20 to 40 years.
So do we have only males or do the young not hang around?
Pun not intended.

[bungeejumper]

We've got bats flying at the moment - in fact, I was watching them this afternoon. Like hedgehogs, they don't hibernate all winter - instead, they wake up on warmer days to stock up on calories, and then go back to the roost to sleep it off.

Slightly O/T, but many years ago, I had a surprise when I pulled up the upstairs floorboards of my house to check the central heating pipes, and discovered a hibernating pipistrelle bat who was keeping himself cosy and warm down there. I never did work out how a bat could have worked its way that far into the very centre of my house - there was no obvious way he could have got there via the roof.

Since he was awake, I gave him a drink of warm milk, which he appreciated, and then went back to sleep. He was absolutely jumping with fleas, though! They always are.

BJ