Skip to main content

Barbastelle at Surlingham?

After setting up the recorder for the Norfolk Bat Survey, I took myself off for a walk in the dark round Church Marsh. I feel like I know this place like the back of my hand, but I like how it can shock and surprise me in the dark. Nightwalking is underrated.

From the hide, I awaited the impending Geese roost. Some great counts:
Greylag 193
Canada 27
Egyptian 13

There were also 4 Green Sandpiper probing the margins, my highest count this Autumn. By now, I was expecting the Bats to join me but I was disappointed. Single passes of Noctule, Common and Soprano Pip were all I managed until I approached the Church. (I should however comment on my encounter with a young Fox, one of the cubs from earlier in the year no doubt. I watched him for ages in the fading light, something I never would have gotten away with during the day.

The track leading to the church and the car-park has often been good for Bats, and tonight was no exception. Noctule passed overhead, and both Common Pipistrelle Species hunted right above my head. In amongst the noise from the detector, I picked up a Myotis sounding frequency, peaking at 32 KHZ. Possibly a Daubenton's (no water here, though) or maybe a Natterer's. Upon tuning the detector up to 45, the sound became faint, lost at 55. Back at 32, the detector was now emitting a series of smacks I did not recognise. Surely not?! I couldn't see any Bats,it was too dark by now (22.10). I have never knowingly heard Barbastelle, so despite picking the same frequency up again in the Churchyard I was prepared to accept it was a Natterer's, which would be a good record for me at Surlingham.
However, back home I have since listened to some recordings of Barbastelle and this sounds precisely like what I heard last night. The fact the strongest frequency was at 32 further adds weight to this claim. They can apparently sound 'Myotis like' in clutter, but the fast paced smacks are characteristic.
The buzz of detecting a Bat and hearing the clicks, smacks and bubbles never fades, but this was my first moment of genuine excitement whilst out detecting. I have emailed the Norfolk Barbastelle Study Group, hopefully for confirmation (difficult with single observer/listener and no recordings made) and I hope to try again in the early part of next week. I need to be out 20 minutes earlier. I can't tick it 'til I've seen it!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Everything is about edge

Hardley, where it is often confusing to define where the garden ends and the marsh begins. Tumble-down houses and rickety shacks, away from any bus route and Team Sky sorts wrapped in lycra, this is a village that by choice is cut off. The secret is out, and pre-storm Ciara as many as 10 large lenses littered the river bank firing at will. Their target- Winter ghosts. First, the classic Scooby-Doo type, as a Barn Owl responds to an ill-advised squeak in the grass and heads towards the onlookers. Another quickly joins the hunt, their formation a picture of double-edged stealth. But these year-round residents are not the key objective today, that honour is given to the Short-eared Owl. 3/4 of these can be seen from the staithe at the minute, floating like giant moths over the tussocks and edges.  In a recent article in The New Yorker, Jake Fiennes states "Everything is about edge". Hedges, ditches, scrub, forgotten tracts of land that link nothing and no-one. Fiennes, now ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Finally, just in time for the tail end of Spring migration........

.......we get some good weather. Too little too late? Only time will tell. I have enjoyed watching the resident birds go about their business on the local marshes and broads, but that ranks as the poorest Spring I can recall in terms of migrants and variety. That is not to say the birding is not good- but just a little underwhelming. Over at Rockland Broad on Saturday, I enjoyed a bit of a raptor fest, with 3 Hoby, 2 Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier and Kestrel all seen well. 2 Garden Warbler were singing, one by the carpark and one by the broad. A couple of Common Tern were hawking over the broad, and a Kingfisher was up to the usual near the hide. Don't get me wrong, this is all great (and in the warm too) but I was hoping for something a little different at Rockland this Spring. Still, with the decent weather set to continue for the next week, eyes to the skies. And indeed, to the ground, for my first Wall Browns of the year were flying and I happened upon my first 4-spotted ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grey Phalarope- a new patch bird

The 7th of April was another bitterly cold Spring day, hats and gloves in prime position on pegs and in bags ready to be deployed. A few brave Garganey have been reported north of the river, but it was a bird from the north itself that had me rushing for the thermals and the telescope late in the day.  I was thankful for the local Whatsapp group who were quick to report that a Grey Phalarope had been seen on Rockland Broad. This tiny Wader would have come in on the northerlies over the last few days, although to grace one of the broads is a real surprise, since most stick pretty close to the coast before moving on. Indeed, my experience of the birds has usually been on a sea watch in the Autumn, waves crashing and foam flying, my eyes straining to pick them out as they fly low just above the surf. They are fantastic birds, and now one was here on the patch. I had a brief panic when I realised my scope was in my car at the garage (thankfully I do have a much older spare) but once th...
Post a Comment
Read more