Les W said:Perhaps they just want a quiet kip without being bothered. Every time somebody finds one they probably think "Oh no, not again, now I will have to find somewhere even further from the entrance".
Peter Burgess said:Bats in apparently remote places are sometimes an indication that other ways in exist that haven't yet been identified by us mere humans.
NigR said:Was there much bat shit (little black droppings) on the floor around there? Can be a useful trail to follow at times. Also, keep an eye out for dead flies (small dark splodges) on the walls. Add a decent draught and you might be back up on the surface sooner than you expected.
Deek said:I don't think there is any way out to the surface around there.
langcliffe said:Good tip if you're in the far corners of Ogof Draenen.
Well I can't imagine there is any food down there for them
Big Jim said:Well I can't imagine there is any food down there for them
There doesnt need to be food for them. They are there to roost usually, be that short term or more usually long term for hibernation.
Some bats, particularly Brown Long-eareds, will use Caves/Mines as a feeding roost whereby they catch a large prey item above ground (eg large moth) and fly to a perch usually quite close to the cave entrance to eat there catch before flying off out to forage again. These feeding roosts are quite easy to find - just look for an accumulation (sometimes hundreds) of moth wings in a small area. Most of the wings will be yellow/orange with a black band from one of the Yellow Underwing moth species and not from Tissue or Herald moths that are commonly seen within the light zone of a cave.
Big Jim
imogen said:Big Jim said:Well I can't imagine there is any food down there for them
There doesnt need to be food for them. They are there to roost usually, be that short term or more usually long term for hibernation.
Some bats, particularly Brown Long-eareds, will use Caves/Mines as a feeding roost whereby they catch a large prey item above ground (eg large moth) and fly to a perch usually quite close to the cave entrance to eat there catch before flying off out to forage again. These feeding roosts are quite easy to find - just look for an accumulation (sometimes hundreds) of moth wings in a small area. Most of the wings will be yellow/orange with a black band from one of the Yellow Underwing moth species and not from Tissue or Herald moths that are commonly seen within the light zone of a cave.
Big Jim
Geek alert!