I have a bat in my bathroom :o)

[Tom]

I went into the bathroom in the house a few nights ago and couldn't believe my eyes; there was a bat hanging on the wall about a foot down from the ceiling. Well, I stood looking at him; he hung there looking at me. I'm thinking "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be hibernating". He's just twiddling his ears around probably wondering what I'm doing in his bedroom!

I closed the door quietly and left him and went on the internet to see if I could find out what the best thing I could do for him would be. I couldn't really come up with much, so I popped my head back around the door to see if he was ok and he'd gone. The only place he could have gone is up the chimney. This chimney has a wood burner with a flue, so there's no way out of there. So, he must be asleep up the chimney now. Needless to say, I won't be lighting that stove this winter!!

I think he must have been hibernating in the loft and hubby disturbed him when he's gone up there earlier in the evening. I don't know if there are more up there, as we haven't been in the loft since. We're also staying out of the bathroom for now.

The next day I spoke to the Bat Conservation Trust and they're arranging for someone from FPCR (who cover our area on their behalf) to contact me. They're going to come round and see if we have a roost in the loft and advise us on what we need to do. If we do have a roost, I'm going to see if we can board that bit off for them and also put some tubes in the bottom row of roof tiles when we fill them in next year, to allow them access but keep some of the birds out.

I'm quite excited by the whole thing. I know many people have bats in their loft and never know about it but knowing about it is very exciting. And seeing one so close up was amazing! I don't know what sort he was but he was quite large and had long ears. Just thought I'd share this

 

[Flyfisher]

They are, indeed, quite lovely, though I'm not sure I'd have rushed to get the bat people involved so quickly, especially if you still have building works in progress (which you might not have after the bat people visit).

An old builder, who had worked on old properties throughout his life, once told me that he'd never seen a bat in any building he'd worked in . . . . or did he say he had never admitted seeing a bat . . . ? I can't quite remember. :wink:

 

[MdB]

Bats are lovely - we have lots here.

They don't mix too well with builders dust though....

The above turned up in the kitchen somehow. It looked rather dopey but soon disappeared when moved outside.

This one landed on the wall when we didn't have any windows.

Watching them chase each other around the living room at high speed was quite something to see.

 

[robgil]

My granny woke up years ago to a bat in her bed room, she grabbed a floor brush and started shouting at it as it gripped the top of the brush ''let go you b'stard, let go'' and other obscenity's. A patrol of soldiers were walking the street below (N Ireland) probably wondering what or indeed who she was shouting at , she opened the bedroom window and poked the brush out with a bat on it shouting obscenity's for all to hear. she used to joke about it afterwards ''im lucky they didn't mistake the brush for a gun and shoot at me''.

 

[Tom]

Aww, bless...they're gorgeous!

The bat people are all very good, really. They don't expect people to live with them in the habitable parts of their houses and it's a misconception that they will stop you doing any work on your house. In any event, our loft is for storage only and we have no more work to do in there now. I love watching the bats flying around in the summer months; the very least I can do in return is help to protect their roosts in order for them to thrive.

I found out a fascinating fact the other day, too. The smallest bat in the UK, the Pipistrelle, can eat up to 3,000 small insects per night!! Another thing is that they eat beetles, so having them in my loft might actually be a very good thing

 

[Tom]

@ Robgil.... :lol: :lol: That is SO funny :lol: :lol:

 

[skier-hughes]

The bat people are all very good, really. They don't expect people to live with them in the habitable parts of their houses and it's a misconception that they will stop you doing any work on your house.

We had the bat people round to see if we had any roosting in our loft before we did any work. It's so many years ago now I can't remember what he said exactly, but they will stop you using certain chemicals, and there will be periods when you can and can't work.
They are beautiful though, we have loads, but the batman suspected they all lived in the newer houses on the estate over the fields and came to us to eat.

 

[AMc]

My understanding is there are more restrictions in converting premises with bats into residences than dealing with bats in existing houses.
We have a breeding roost in our loft so the bats (pips) arrive in spring and stay until late September.
We were troubled by them getting into the house when they first started flying about and got the bats protection to take a look.
You are allowed to block their access into your living areas you just aren't allowed to deliberately interfere with them or block their access into their roost.
The protection people confirmed in writing that our planned work wasn't a problem and simply told us to avoid working in the loft during the breeding season unless absolutely necessary.

We never completely worked out where they came in but we weren't troubled this year after we'd completed the major works on the house so hopefully we dealt with their entry route.

This year I counted more than 140 pips leaving our eaves on evening - it's quite amazing that many can live up there and cause as little trouble as they do.

 

[Penners]

My granny woke up years ago to a bat in her bedroom, she grabbed a floor brush

Wouldn't a tennis racquet have been more effective? :wink:

 

[worms]

Is there not a UB40 song in there somewhere?

 

[AMc]

Is there not a UB40 song in there somewhere?

You thinking of "There's a cat in my wheelie bin, what am I gonna do?"

 

[worms]

"There's a cat in my wheelie bin, what am I gonna do?"

Perhaps you could wheel it round to DWB to deal with the bat!

 

[Tom]

"There's a cat in my wheelie bin, what am I gonna do?"

Perhaps you could wheel it round to DWB to deal with the bat!

Nooooooo! My cats would be in serious trouble if any of them hurt a bat. Fortunately, we have a plentiful supply of mice and rats for them to go at