Bats in the Bathroom

On the bird feeder today I had fifteen House Sparrows, with the majority being young birds too. I think that there were two broods of chicks that had fledged at the same time. As there are only four perches on the seed feeder it became crowded and twice I saw one bird land on the back of another. While I was busy typing up my field notes, I did not have a camera handy as they were on charge, but it would have made an amusing image.

Equally I was pleased to see that I have a Dunnock regularly visiting the yard. As it is predominantly an insect feeder, it shows that I have a healthy invertebrate population in the yard. Talking of insects, tonight I was Brushing my teeth, using toothpaste and not nappy rash cream (there is one person who will understand that one), when the phone goes. I was awaiting an important call, so I rushed to answer. After finishing the conversation I returned to the bathroom. I had left the light on, it is low energy lighting, and I had a cloud of small moths that had been attracted to the light. As I finished my ablutions, in the mirror I saw something fly in and snatch a moth from the air. It was a bat, and it flew straight out of the open window. The aperture is only fifteen by twelve inches and while I know that bats are small, and can echo locate, even I was gob-smacked by it. I set up the camera in case it came back again, but it only did it the once. Could it be that the bat had been doing it while I was not there? And did the bat detect me? I am not sure if I would have believed it had I not seen it for myself. I don't know what species it was as I did not have a clear view for that, but wow is all I can say.

Another interesting observation that I had the other day was a domestic pigeon that was sitting in the plant trough that is under the bird feeder. It looked as though it was trying to nest, so I left it undisturbed in case it was laying or sitting eggs. The bird remained there all day but left to return home at dusk. There are a number of people around the area that keep fancy pigeons and I think it was one of these. I suspect that it had just spotted the feeder and some spilt seed rather than making a nest.

A couple of days later I was told, by someone who swore that there are no Buzzards in the area, that they had seen a Buzzard that appeared to be searching the back lane and yards. So it may be that the pigeon was just taking refuge in the yard. I don't know, I had not seen the Buzzard as I was out shopping. That's another reason to add to the list of reasons why I don't like shopping, it stops me seeing Buzzards.

Although on that shopping trip I will make an exception as while awaiting the return bus I saw a pair of courting Skylarks.