I'd staked out last years Noctule roost a couple of times in the day over the last few weeks to see if I could hear them. My results were 1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker in and out and worst still 2! Grey Squirrels poking out of two of the holes last weekend. Last night was show time as I'd organised to lead a walk (back in February) for the local natural history society to see the emergence (presuming the bats would return ;). Having not done a proper emergence survey I was unsure that any bats were actually in the roost. I popped up after tea with my daughters for one final check before leading the walk. My youngest was adamant she'd heard them for a second from inside the tree. But I struggled due to all the bird noise. I started to stake out the tree around 2030 and was chuffed to hear them inside the roost. The 20 or so MKNHS members then joined and had to wait until 2109 before the first Noctule emerged soon followed by another 21. This follows the pattern of last years results, where the same number were recorded at this time of year and soon grew to the high 70's later in the summer.
I'm well chuffed.
