It’s been a crazy year for bat rescues and from what we have heard from other bat groups across the UK and Ireland this pattern isn’t just here in Northern Ireland. Lots of pups at the start of the season and some being born later. There were so many grounded juveniles who were underweight and many had heavy parasite loads too. One of our carers had a nice surprise one day when she opened the cage to find that a rescued soprano pipistrelle had given birth to her pup while in care! Baby is now flying although mum’s wing will still take some time to heal. Thanks to the kind gentleman who found her in the middle of a busy main road. Mother and  pup now have a bright future.

We had lots of pups in June/July and we are still getting grounded juveniles; a soprano pipistrelle in a bucket of oil outside a chinese, pipistrelles flying in through open windows, a common pipistrelle inside a stove, a Leisler’s bat inside a vase and a pipistrelle caught in a fly trap are just a few examples!

Scratchy the Leisler’s bat – a bat success

Scratchy on his cooker hood vantage point

‘Scratchy’ the Leisler’s bat was successfully released in June. We named him Scratchy as he loved to scratch his cage to get attention, food and to get out to crawl around. Being the crazy wee darling he is, he decided to have a flying tour of the house before his carer took him to the country park to be released. She found him sitting on top of the cooker having a good look around. 

A big thank you to our  dedicated volunteer bat carers and to our volunteer ambulance drivers Simon, Andrew and Madonna, CEDaR, staff at NIEA, Bat Conservation Trust Helpline and biodiversity officers.  All have been a great help this year, we couldn’t do this without you.

We would also like to extend our thanks to members of the public who take the time to call us and to vets for their help when we weren’t able to respond

Check out the photos of some rescues this year  (thanks to Liz O’Connor from Forest Service NI for photos of Pavi)