Species of the Week – GREATER HORSESHOE BAT

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

On February 24th 2013, Paul Scott - professional bat worker and member of Bat Conservation Ireland – made a remarkable discovery.
He recorded a single male Greater Horseshoe Bat, hanging from the ceiling in a disused cellar in Co. Wexford. This is the first record of this species occurring naturally in Ireland!

Greater horseshoe bats are found in a small number of locations in Wales and southwest England as well as across Southern Europe. It is therefore possible that this bat has flown across from roosts in southwest Wales, over 100km away!

It is one of the largest bats in the Britain and Ireland, with the wingspan stretching over 30cm. Horseshoe bats are so-called due to a curious-looking horseshoe-shaped flap of skin on their face that actually helps in their navigation by echolocation in the dark.

Further survey work will be undertaken by Bat Conservation Ireland volunteers in 2013 to see if this is a vagrant bat that has entered the country by accident, or if this is a pioneer bat looking to extend its natural range.
Will they find more?


-
Photo: Greater Horseshoe Bat by Luca Tringali, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

there are so many different kinds. will they take this one back or leave it alone?

I think they will leave it alone xx

there are lots of bats here, specially in the summer....