Our first bat walk took place on Friday 9th September on a clear night after days of rain.
The walk was led by Dave Anderson from the East Lancashire Bat Group assisted by members of the group.
There was a really good turnout of over 60 people of all ages, including 10 Beavers with their families.
As it was a clear night we had to wait some time for it to go dark and while we were waiting Dave showed us a rare bat – a Whiskered Bat – that he had been called upon to rescue when it was found clinging to a shop front in the center of Burnley.
This was the first live bat that many people had ever seen.
The Bat Group had brought Bat Detectors and we were shown how these worked and how different species gave out different signals so they could be identified.
The most common bat is the pipistrelle and as it became dark and we moved round the cemetery we were able to detect these bats feeding on insects above the shrubbery.
As we went higher up the cemetery the detectors showed a different bat and we were thrilled to find we too had the rare Whiskered Bat in the cemetery.
The clear night meant that many of the bats had travelled away to feed over water where there would be many insects.
The walk was very informative and we hope to have more bat walks in the future, perhaps with smaller groups with some for children and some for adults.
Rosemary Jackson, Photographs Diane Davies
FODC September 2011