Moth Night August 30th 2014

The Bat and Moth night was blessed with good weather after the unsettled week earlier. 51 adults and children came along and met in the car park.

Robin talked about safety especially in the dark. He also spoke about bats - what they are and what they eat. The children already new a great deal about them anyway but were surprised by the number of insects pipistrelle bats can eat in one night - as many as 3,000!

The Bailey Bridge (aka Spider Bridge) was crossed to be visited later when dark to look for Daubenton's Bat (Myotis daubentonii). This bat dominated near the bridge. Bat detectors were put to good use. Torches were used to follow the bats flying low over the river.

The moth trap was well visited and several species were recorded.

Pictured in both lamplight and flash.

Bridge spider (Larinioides sclopetarius) on Spider Bridge. There are dozens of these and can be seen easily at night.

(Picture taken on a previous visit)