Bats by t'Beck and t'Barn

Bats

Bats on Musgrave Church Field

Rosemary Spence and Cath Johnson of the Cumberland Bat Group were our guides for an exploration of the bats on Musgrave Church Field on Wednesday 23 August 2017. It was a splendid evening - oodles of bats, including Common and Soprano Pipistrelles (by the trees and church), Daubenton's (up and down the River Eden) and Noctules. Listen to the River Sequence below.


A Protected Species Survey: bats and barn owl was carried out in Musgrave Church Field Barn by Paul Arkle in September 2011 before the restoration of the Tithe Barn. A barn owl and a family of 3 young were seen in the walnut tree in July 2017.


Rosemary Spence of the Cumberland Bat Group was our guide for an exploration of the bats on Musgrave Church Field on Thursday 20 August 2015. The first bats were heard about 8.45 pm using ultrasonic bat detectors. By 9.30 pm there were very many of them flying through the trees and over the river. Four species of bats were seen and heard: Daubenton's bats, Common and Soprano Pipistrelles and Noctule bats. Further bat surveys have been carried out several on the River Eden in Musgrave in 2016 as part of the Waterway Survey for Daubenton's bats with the Bat Conservation Trust. If you are interested in particpating in future surveys, please contact Mike Lea on mikejlea@gmail.com.


Some ultrasonic recordings of bats on the Field are given below.
Click  to play an audio version at 1/10 of the actual frequency (ie a 50 kHz ultrasonic signal is played at 5 kHz).
The time between pulses and their duration is unchanged.

The recordings were made from a Batbox Baton ultrasonic bat detector.
A plot of the signal ampltude versus time, and a frequency spectrogram (frequency versus time) is shown for each recording.

River Sequence       

Recording taken across the River Eden, with several species of bat.

 River Sequence 31Jul16

Daubenton's bat       

Listen for the 'buzz' as an insect is caught. These myotis bats were seen flying over the river Eden.

Bat scan Daubenton's

Common Pipistrelle 

These bats call about at about 45 kHz (4.5 kHz in this recording).

Pipistrelle EVF_ 22Jul15_A1

Soprano Pipistrelle 

These bats call about at about 55 kHz (5.5 kHz in this recording).

Soprano Pipistrelle_MCF_17Aug15_A3

Noctule bat              

These bats call about at about 20 kHz (2 kHz in this recording). Young people may be able to hear them directly.

Noctule_MCF_17Aug15_A2

There are 18 species of bats in the UK, 11 of which occur in Cumbria.

The following species have been seen and heard on the Field - others may be found. 

Common Pipistrelle
Soprano Pipistrelle
Daubenton's bat
Noctule bat
Myotis bat (probably Natterer's bat)

See the Bat Conservation Trust for more information.