Wildlife August 2011

[Lesley Cox]

Silly girl! She should thank her lucky stars she doesn't have racoons in the attic, or mice in the shed and wheat silos.

Roger has just gone to bed but said he was sure he saw something dark move on the floor in front of the sink. He did. It was Cain.

[mark smyth]

I have at least 10 years experience of visiting householders because they have a bat in the house or a bat roost.

Some observations
why us?
by far it's the women who complain
women move out - with the children
everyone moves out
what will the neighbours say?
where's the box to take them away? Sorry you have to keep them until late summer.
will we get compensation?
we cant sleep
the baby cant slepp
will we get rabies?
will the children get sick from eating the droppings?
I'll burn the house down if you dont get them out
there's a bat on the window! On the glass? Yes - I go and it's a moth
bats are mating on the hanging basket! Really? - I go and it's two poplar moths

Funniest of all is when I went to a house where a bat is in a bedroom. They had sealed all cracks around the door and a towel was under the door. When I went in they closed the door behind me. I didnt find the bat and she said she threw her shoes at it and it's under the pile of shoes in the corner!  It wasnt a bat






but one of her ankle length tights that my mother calls pop socks

[johnw]

Has the attach function disappeared for everyone or just me?

johnw

[jandals]

Hi John . They are doing maintenance and you should be able to do attachments in a day or two . I think there is a note in the Members area somewhere

Cheers

[jandals]

Yes , Mark , I bet you have seen some funny things . If someone found bats in the family home in New Zealand the humans would be removed el pronto . The property would be surrounded with a predator proof fence and entry into the surrounding suburb would be by permit only .

Paul I think the move by the short tailed bats to feed on the ground isn't working for them now and their numbers are lower than the fliers . We had the long tail bats at our place and the transmitters on them showed that they would fly 10 km or so to feed on insects above the manuka shrublands .
Also on animal evolution . Before they were hunted by helicopter red deer would run uphill away from danger . Now many of them have learnt to run downhill into the forest to avoid being shot from above

One last thing ( before I make you nod off ) is a wee story on counting moths
The bat researchers needed a method to work out how many insects were out each night and they came up with the following idea
Each night they would drive up the road an hour after dark at a steady speed for 15kms and count the number of moths . On a cold rainy night this number would be zero and on a warm pre-rain night , thousands . This job became very popular with me because 15km away up the road was our nearest and only neighbour . The pub .
Well , it's hard work counting moths

[annew]

A local news story here recounted how a man had got permission to get rid of a bat roost in his roof because "they couldn't stand all the screeching".....

[Maggi Young]

Has the attach function disappeared for everyone or just me?

johnw

It is as  Mr Steve Jandals said, John. No problem but that function is  disabled to allow some much needed site maintenance and updates over the next copule of days.
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7717.new#new




Mr Steve Jandals .... tee hee.... got me singing Mr Bojangles.....

( feeble what makes me smile when I need chocolate....)

[Maggi Young]

A local news story here recounted how a man had got permission to get rid of a bat roost in his roof because "they couldn't stand all the screeching".....

I'm surprised the bats hung around with all those humans screeching.......

[Lesley Cox]

A local news story here recounted how a man had got permission to get rid of a bat roost in his roof because "they couldn't stand all the screeching".....

Must have been a very noisy man. Wonder why he screeched so much.

Apparently frequenting caves where bats live can give humans a serious and occasionally deadly lung disease from the inhalation of urine and faeces dust. In the "Infested" programme on TV last night, a woman and her family got the same disease from the leavings of a racoon infestation in their attic. She almost died, the others were less infected but the mess made of the house was appalling and the ceilings even collapsed because of constant wetness. (hysto something tosis)

[Roma]

My bats have gone quiet.  They must be out catching insects.  When I am sitting at the computer I can hear them behind the wall chirping and scuffling. They can be quite noisy but not enough to disturb me.  On a warm day I can hear them chirping away in the daytime as well, both in the wall at the front of the house and at the gable end on the west side above the greenhouse.  We have occasionally had one in the house.  Last time was last year when we were having a new fire put in and two came down the chimney.  We chased them around for a bit and eventually they went out when we got them into the kitchen, opened the window and put the light out.  No panic here when a bat appears. 

[johnw]

Hi John . They are doing maintenance and you should be able to do attachments in a day or two . I think there is a note in the Members area somewhere

Cheers

Thanks so much. They'e probably installing a computer like the one the National Weather Service has, certainly will need one that size with the number of jpegs on the system.

johnw

[angie]

Roma you see you are a true country lass, no fear.
Now if it was a room full of spiders I wouldn't go in but I do think bats are cute in their own way.

Angie

[angie]

Pleione pot today in greenhouse, some of the bulbs were lying on their side so I went to push them back in and the pushed out again, can you see why ?
Angie

[Maggi Young]

Is there a frog or a toad hiding in there, Angela? 

[angie]

Yes Maggi. I got a bit of a scare but I suppose it was nothing compared to the scare the poor toad got when he saw my big face. I think he was trying to keep warm but I sent him on his way.

Angie