FIRST BAT

After being tipped off by Urban Extension about the emerging bats recently, its taken me a while to see one...
There were two Pipistrelles hunting around the office all last summer (must have been a bad year for the insectivores I reckon), and tonight, a few minutes ago, I noticed one in exactly the same place.

There are a few hunting over the Thames outside the office, but I won't be able to see tham until I am rostered in on a morning or night shift.

I hope to grab an 8 second exposure of this office bat - something I've not tried before, and it may well not work, but I'll give it a go when I bring my camera down to work next, and we get a clear evening....

RANDOM MUTTERINGS

For future reference (for me).
After a brief cold snap, the weather has turned much milder again over the last day or two, the return of the wind direction to a more prevailing wind direction having much input in that.
I think all the bats are hibernating now, as are the hedgehogs.
The only bumblebees alive are the Queens in their nests - the males are probably all dead.
Warm afternoons have brought a few localised hatches of midges and I've seen only one adult Harlequin Ladybird in the last week - on November 26th - will that be the last of the year? I doubt it. I certainly haven't seen any larvae crawling around though, and many pupae have not eclosed, nor will they, I'm guessing.
One, lone Plume Moth is the only moth I've seen for a week or so.

As for my Peregrines....
After a little help from local experts, it seems like there are UP TO FIVE Peregrines in the area around Berkshire.
I know they roost/hunt at Crowthorne and Theale and Reading itself.
The pair that I took a photo of seem both wild (no jesses) and the female that I snapped is the largest Peregrine by far, round these parts. She's HUGE.

Three Peregrines (we think) regularly roost in the town centre (on the Thames Tower, where I've seen them), one of them being a falconers escaped tiercel (with jesses).
For the last two winters, this male has overwintered at Theale gravel pits, and last year attempted to nest with a 'wild' female. Sad to report that Southern Electric's helicopter put pay to that nest on one of the Theale electicity pylons. A real shame.

I seem to be the main person for reporting the birds in town - mainly because I can pass the station every day if need be, on the way to/back from work, and I look up occasionally also.

I'll keep m new camera in my bag, and keep having a look, and with luck, I'll get a decent photo or two soon...

NB. Lunchtime today - and I've just seen one lone winter butterfly (Red Admiral) on the window - so there's a few of those about in this warm spell too...

COMMON PIPISTRELLE

I managed to escape the office for 20 minutes.
Just went for a tiny walk along the Thames at Caversham Lock, Reading.The light was just coming good, and I stood right by thr river for 5 minutes watching two Common Pipistrelle bats hunting furiously around me before (like me!) returning home to roost for the day. (Although, unlike me, I don't suppose they'll have to get up within a few hours to dig over a vegetable plot)!

The Common Pipistrelle is our most common and smallest bat. I did actually see one hunting outside Anna's parents place at the weekend, but thought I'd wait until I got a nicer, longer view, before posting about bats on "Blue-Grey".

These bats today were never flying higher than about 8' and a couple of times were almost skimming the water, hunting for insects in the cool morning air.
They got very, very close to me every time they completed their 'hunting loop' also, but, of course, never would hit me - their sonar is FAR too sophisticated for that to happen.

I just wonder where they roost? There are no particularly old buildings around this area, though there are a couple of run-down wooden boat-houses on the lock island, and lots of old, tall trees lining the river. I suppose they've set up a roost in one of those places, and will be back there within the hour....

NB. A bat flew out of a hole in the ceiling during one of Anna's biology lessons at her workplace the other day - which as you can imagine, caused mayhem with her students concentration- end of her lesson on (not bats unfortunately), the human menstrual cycle!

Anyway, very nice to see, at one of my favourite times of day...