Lavant Tunnel bats

[Ian Wegg]

At the Revival on Friday my son and I walked through the Lavant tunnel and were delighted to see some roosting bats, there must have been about a dozen scattered along the roof. Several people were taking photographs.

On Sunday I went through again with my daughter and told her to look out for them. I was surprised to see there were none at all, the roof was surprising clean of all wildlife, not so much as a crane fly.

Does anyone know where they went?

~iw

[Magog]

If your post isn't a trolling one, someone's going to be in some serious (bat)st!

[RichB]

Ian Wegg said:

not so much as a crane fly.
Does anyone know where they went?

The bats ate them.

[Wigeon Incognito]

That's a shame, I also saw them on Saturday but didn't walk through the tunnel on Sunday as I stayed in the infield.

Hopefully they just changed roost naturally, maybe they finally got sick of the vibrations from above!

Matt.

[Lynchie999]

yeh, hopefully its just a case of that they moved on naturally...

surprised they opened the tunnel if they had known bats were there, thought they needed some protection ? maybe they got a batman in to remove them ?

[RaeB]

We saw them as well, we were amazed that they were there.

[dandarez]

Interesting. If someone removed them they could be in batste.

All species of bat and their breeding sites or resting places (roosts) are protected under Regulation 41 of The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 and Section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

It is an offence for anyone intentionally to kill, injure or handle a bat, to possess a bat (whether live or dead), disturb a roosting bat, or sell or offer a bat for sale without a licence.

It is also an offence to damage, destroy or obstruct access to any place used by bats for shelter, whether they are present or not.

Hmm.

[ecsrobin]

I'll upload a photo tomorrow.

However it is possible to apply for a licence to be able to handle bats, similar licences are needed for certain birds of prey so as mentioned I would think goodwood probably phoned in a specialist. Was very nice to get up close to an animal you normally just see flying about very quickly at night.

[anonymous-user]

They were there all weekend when I walked through Fri/Sat/Sun

I only saw 3 in there each day, but wasn't looking too hard for any more.

[Crook]

There were at least five pipistrelles roosting on sunday morning but in the afternoon they were all gone. I suspect the footfall disturbed them. Also a surprising amount of butterflies too.

[Ian Wegg]

Glad to hear they were still seen on Sunday morning. It was about 12:30 when we passed through so perhaps they had all flown out together for a spot of lunch!

I'd forgotten the butterflies, we saw a few of those too.

~iw

[V8HSV600HP]

Bats only roost during the day light hours. By about 5-6 pm they will leave their roosting place to go look for their dinner. So depending on the time of day you will see them and then not see them in the Lavant Tunnel. They will have several roosting places and maybe the noise and the amount of people over the weekend disturbed them.

A Local inhabitant and ex farmer.

[Lynchie999]

V8HSV600HP said:

A Local inhabitant ...

you live in the Lavant Tunnel too ?

[V8HSV600HP]

No, not the tunnel..an old Barn

[dandarez]

Lynchie999 said:

V8HSV600HP said:

A Local inhabitant ...

you live in the Lavant Tunnel too ?

[dandarez]

V8HSV600HP said:

No, not the tunnel..an old Barn

Nearly as good!

[V8HSV600HP]

It is a very well appointed old Sussex Barn, even has an indoor toilets and en suit bathrooms. Walking distance from Goodwood.

[ehasler]

Here's one of the little fellas - saw a few there on Friday evening as we left the circuit.

[Ian Wegg]

I noticed during last weekend's Members Meeting that bat boxes have now been constructed in the tunnel.



~iw

[9.3]

Are they bat boxes or speakers for the commentary? New development I noticed, having the commentary booming away as I walked through the tunnel, but I couldn't see any speakers per se.