Lesser Horseshoe Bats
Lesser Horseshoe bats are one of the 17 species of bat which live in the UK. Although common a century ago, they are now very rare and are usually only found in the southwest of Britain. They haven't been recorded in Bucks for at least 100 years ... until now! |
 |
Lesser Horseshoe Project
A Lesser Horseshoe bat roost has been found in a building in the Mentmore area. NBBG did a leaflet drop at many houses in the area in April 2009, followed up by detector surveys through April and May.
Many local people contacted us following our initial requests. We had great fun meeting with people and we found out a lot of information about how bats are using the village and local landscape. We found several new bat roosts that we did not know about and recorded a total of 7 different species of bats in the area. Unfortunately, not a single Horseshoe Bat.
Thank you to everybody that got involved and to all the villagers who helped us out. This has still been a useful and interesting exercise. We hope to organise similar events in other locations in future years. We are still interested in any sightings so please feel free to contact us any time.
Project Update
A friend of a member of the Herts and Middx Bat Group was driving by the entrance to the golf course at Mentmore when he collided with a bat. He handed over the unfortunate dead creature. Imagine everyone's surprise when this turned out to be a female Lesser Horseshoe bat! It confirms the previous records but is infuriatingly frustrating because despite our best efforts we couldn't find a roost this year. Maybe we will have to put our thinking caps on and have another go next year.