http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/opencountry.shtml

Heard this today. The link above will allow you to hear it yourself for a couple of days.

It featured George Hall talking about mining around Cader Idris, and a recording of a visit to a secret mine level by a Bat Person to count 'extremely rare lesser horseshoe bats'. The level was also home to otters, and the programme relates how they found evidence that at one location the otters, a protected species, are eating the hibernating bats, another protected species. They worked this out by analysing the otter spraints.To hear how the two in the programme tippie-toed along the mine level, speaking in hushed tones like walking on eggshells, compared to how I've witnessed bat monitoring folk going about their business was a bit puzzling. The programme stated that this year bat counts are definitely down, and it is put down to the warm winter.

Listen to it while you can. It was a repeat of Saturday's programme, so it won't be on line after tomorrow, I suspect.

I think I might have to take this with a pinch of salt.  I've never heard of otters inhabiting mine levels, or eating hibernating bats.  Also, as far as I was aware, lesser horseshoes don't occur in the Cader Idris area but you do get myotis bats.

If I'm wrong I don't mind admitting it.

Did you get to hear it Gus? The bit with George sounded genuine enough. The "Welsh Nature" (sorry don't know the proper term) officer counted 60 plus bats, which she said was down from a normal figure of about 100. The reporter described the bats and they sounded very much like Lesser Horseshoes. Perhaps the limit on range is shifting northwards?

Peter Burgess said:

to count 'extremely rare lesser horseshoe bats'.

Click to expand...

It's suddenly occurred to me that this is tosh. LHBs are NOT extremely rare; I see LHBs pretty nearly every week; I see GHBs most months, also Daubentons; I've seen Pipistrelles too. However, I've never actually seen Grey Long-Eared, Brown Long-Eared, Serotine, Natterers, Whiskered, Brandts, Bechstein, Barbastelle, Leislers or Noctules.

Are we being fed half-truths or am I blind (as a bat*)?


* "Blind as a bat" is an expression; bat's aren't really blind. God, why do I have to write this sort of stuff? - because, if I don't, someone is bound to write in saying "But bats aren't really blind, don't you know" etc. etc..

That's why I put it in quotes.

Hey, Chris, did you know that bats aren't really blind?

Posts are deaf though. You can say "deaf as a post" and not be contradicted.

Have you ever considered that posts might have perfectly good hearing and are just ignoring you?