Anyone who has been out of a summer’s evening will know there are bats around, and that they only come out at night. Not quite: a few years ago, on a hot and sunny May afternoon, I saw an odd-shaped bird fly across the garden and land vertically on a fence post bordering Gore Meadow. When it landed, I saw it was rectangular and brown – not very bird-like. I grabbed my binoculars and discovered that whatever it was, had brown fur, and feet on all four corners – a bat. After a few minutes, it flew off around the meadow and back, rested again on the fence post, flew off again and returned. It did this five or six times before it flew off and didn’t return.
My guess is that the bat had just come out of hibernation, and was warming itself up in the sunshine before going off to find some breakfast. I am also guessing from its behaviour that it was a Daubentons Bat, wingspan 9 ½ inches, which does fly during the day.
BAT FACT: 20% of the world’s mammals are bats.