Batty about Bats

It is a little known fact that this weekend (28^th-29^th August) is European Bat Weekend, an annual celebration of bats organised by The Bat Conservation Trust.

With seven of the UK’s 17 breeding bat species having been recorded at Attenborough Nature Reserve, the news of the forthcoming bat celebration spurred me on to dust off my bat detector and go out looking for some of Attenborough’s rarely seen nocturnal mammals.

Following a few nights of heavy rain, the forecast clear sky last Monday night was sure to attract large numbers of hungry bats that would have been unable to feed during the bad weather. Despite a strong wind (and a heavy down pour half an hour before leaving the house) I was not to be disappointed.

Just after dusk and only 10 minutes after arriving on the Reserve my bat detector started to make some strange sounds likened to wet slaps, that without the detector were inaudible to the human ear. These were the sonar calls made by my first bat of the night, a Common Pipistrelle. This is Britain’s commonest bat which weighing only 5g (less than a 2p coin) is also one of the smallest. In spite of its small size the Pipistrelle’s voracious appetite means it can consume around 3000 insects in a single night!

A few minutes later and having tuned the detector to a different frequency, a Noctule Bat, one of the largest species in Britain could be heard as it cruised along its feeding path over The Bund. The characteristic ‘chip chop’ call of the Noctule was replaced regularly with a series of ever increasing clicking sounds as the bat homed in on its insect prey.

With the going good, I moved to the Works Pond bridge. Here, the sounds coming from the bat detector became hard to distinguish as large numbers of Pipistrelles and Noctules were busy feeding over the pond and along the marginal vegetation. All of a sudden the higher frequency call of a Soprano Pipistrelle came in to range as it joined in the feeding foray. So similar is the Soprano to the Common Pipistrelle, that this bat was only identified as a separate species in 1990.   

As I walked through the Reserve towards the Nature Centre, bats could be heard from all directions. Even in Attenborough Village Common Pipistrelles could be seen patrolling the street lamp lit roads. Over Coneries Pond surrounding the Nature Centre I encountered my final species of the night, the rare Nathusius’ Pipistrelle, first recorded in Nottinghamshire at Attenborough Nature Reserve in 2006. What a way to end a very exciting night bat detecting.

How can you get involved?

September is one of the best times in the year to go out looking for bats. Numbers will have increased from mid July through to August as juvenile bats born in June start to fly. Furthermore it is the start of the mating season for next year’s brood so many males will be seen busy flying around and using their special mating calls to attract a female.  September is also the time when bats begin to concentrate on building up their fat reserves to see them through the winter.

If you’re looking for a place to start, a basic bat detector will help you get the most out of bat watching and will aid correct identification. You can purchase a heterodyne detector from the Nature Centre for as little as £69. These detectors change the ultrasonic sounds emitted by bats into sounds that we can hear and can be tuned to the frequency of ultrasound used by different species.

Disappearing Ducks

Where have all the male ducks gone? As you look around the Nature Reserve you may have noticed that all of the brightly coloured drakes seem to have disappeared. The male mallard with its iridescent green head, purple brown breast and grey body, or the contrasting black and white of the male tufted duck can simply no longer be seen. So where have they all gone? You may be surprised to know that they haven’t actually gone anywhere they are just undergoing their post breeding moult known as ‘eclipse’.

Feathers are extremely important to birds. They are vital for flight, provide insulation and have evolved into a massive array of colours and patterns to be used in courtship and sexual selection. Bird’s feathers often wear out during the year through flying, exposure to the sun, rubbing against other feathers and parasites such as lice and mites. Feathers therefore need to be regularly replaced and moulting is the process of shedding and regrowing them. Unlike most other birds’ ducks, geese and swans lose all of their flight feathers at once leaving them flightless for a few weeks.

The moult process in mallards starts by shedding the bright coloured body feathers which are replaced with the dull brown feathers seen in the ‘eclipse plumage’. This makes the males look a lot like the females and provides them with some camouflage during their vulnerable flightless period. After the flight feathers have regrown, the birds go through a second moult phase, and by October the male’s full colours will have returned.

Bee Orchid Discovery

The first record in over 20 years

 In the last week there has been an exciting new addition to the Nature Reserve that strangely coincides with the discovery of a locally rare bee orchid found on Corbett’s Meadow after an absence of over 20 years, and a species of bee that has been spotted for the first time at Attenborough.

Last Thursday under the cover of darkness (when the bees are back in their hives and are settled), six bee hives were put into position by Park’s Apiaries on one of our flower rich meadows. The bees, it is hoped, will augment the wild bee population on the Reserve and help to pollinate the diverse wild flower assemblages that can be found here. They will also provide a tasty treat of locally sourced and sustainable Attenborough honey that will be sold in the Nature Centre later in the year.

16 different species of wild bee have been recorded on the Nature Reserve since records began, including the tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) which was seen for the first time at Attenborough this June. The tree bumblebee, which likes to nest in holes in trees, is common and widespread over much of mainland Europe and first arrived on the south coast of England from France in 2001. It has slowly moved north reaching nearby Leicestershire in 2009. It has a distinctive brown thorax, black abdomen and white tail so is unlike any other native species. This species can often be seen along the Wet Marsh Path towards the observation point overlooking Clifton Pond.

Despite this new arrival, native UK bee populations have suffered a catastrophic decline over the last 30 years. Three species have recently become extinct and many more are now seriously threatened. This is thought to be the result of a number of factors including loss of wildflower habitats, agricultural intensification, use of pesticides and emerging parasites and diseases. 

As bees play an important role in pollinating wild flowers and almost a third of all commercial crops, the recent declines are cause for concern. Albert Einstein is reputed to have once said that without bees to pollinate our food crops, humans would die off in just 4 years!

To help restore valuable meadow habitats, the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust are giving away Mini Meadow seed packs which will provide all you need to share your garden with nature. Each pack contains enough seed to create a 1m² Mini Meadow, wherever you have space and the mix has been specially selected to attract pollinating insects such as bees. You could sprinkle it on a bare patch of soil, or use to transform an area of your lawn. You could even create a Mini Meadow in a window box or a hanging basket. Packs are available to Nottinghamshire residents from support@nottswt.co.uk or the Attenborough Nature Centre (one pack per household).

Black-Headed Gull Ringing

One of the many Black-headed Gull Chicks from Clifton Pond

If you were out and about on the Nature Reserve at the crack of dawn last weekend you may have noticed some unusual activity on one of the islands on Clifton Pond. No, it wasn’t some rare bird skulking around in the nettles. It was the South Nott’s Ringing Group ringing the young chicks from the newly established Black-Headed Gull colony.

Clifton Pond has been transformed in recent years following efforts to re-create wildlife habitats that have been lost due to pressures from development and agriculture across the County. In the winter of 2007 the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust carried out major works on one of the islands to enhance the site for breeding Common Terns, waders and gulls. A redundant spoil heap left over from the gravel extraction days was cleared of its poor quality vegetation, reduced in height, and covered with a waterproof membrane and 150 tonnes of gravel. Such was the success of this habitat creation that the following spring, Black-Headed Gulls settled down to breed on the island – the first ever breeding record of this species at the Nature Reserve!

Considered by many to be a ‘seagull’ the Black-Headed Gull is in fact the commonest gull to be seen inland in Britain, with inland breeding colonies often outnumbering coastal ones. The number of Black-Headed Gulls in the Attenborough colony has slowly increased each year with over 250 adults seen on the island this spring!

Ringing the chicks enables us to find out more information about the gulls. By fitting a lightweight, uniquely numbered, metal ring around each chick’s leg it provides a reliable and harmless method of identifying each bird as an individual. This will allow us to study how many young birds leave the nest and survive to become adults, as well as the movements of the birds during the winter and to enable us to see which birds return to breed in subsequent years. An astonishing 176 chicks were ringed in the time the South Nott’s group were on the island, however, this still only accounted for a quarter of the total number of chicks present. So maybe next time you’re at the seaside you might come across one of the gulls ringed at Attenborough.

Elsewhere on the Reserve the recent spell of warm weather has meant there has been lots of invertebrate activity with many dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies and moths taking to the wing. The first Brown Hawker dragonflies of the year were spotted this week and a vast number of the brightly coloured, male Banded Demoiselle damselflies have been seen as they elegantly skip and dance over the riverside vegetation in order to attract a mate. The Common Spotted Orchids are now in flower on Corbett’s Meadow and are definitely worth a visit! Their dense cone-shaped flower spikes vary in colour from light pink to pale lilac with purple spots. As the name suggests, they are one of the most common species of orchid in Britain, however it is thought that the species found at Attenborough is a hybrid with the Southern Marsh Orchid.

If you have any sightings from the Nature Reserve, I’d love to hear about them. Send me an Email to enquiries@attenboroughnaturereserve.co.uk

To report a ringed bird visit www.ring.ac