Page 5 - Wildlife News August 2019

WONDERFULLY The ever-changing face of nature is endlessly fascinating. So pull on your walking boots and put
WILD WALKS your best foot forward on one of our wonderfully Wild Walks. Download and print them or save to
your phone at bbowt.org.uk/explore/wild-walks

Beautiful berries FLY BY NIGHTS Ed Munday,
Community Wildlife Officer
As summer wanes a seasonal abundance helps wildlife
prepare for winter. Berries are at the forefront of this natural Daubenton’s bat.
plenty. All of the following plants may be found at Bacombe (DAVE SUTTON/2020VISION)
Hill and many other wild places. See if you can spot them.

Dogwood Hawthorn Bats are remarkable and unique animals. Shrouded in misleading
myths (bats are not blind but have excellent eyesight!), they are the
(PHILIP PRECEY) (PHILIP PRECEY) only mammals that fly and do so generally at night.
Their nocturnal habits can be a challenge to those wishing
Spindle Juniper to identify the 18 species of British bats, but with a little practice
and knowledge it is possible to gain a fuller appreciation of these
(PETER CREED) (PETER CREED) amazing creatures.
Bats navigate and hunt their insect prey by echolocation,
Buckthorn a sensory system in which high frequency ultrasonic calls are
emitted and their echoes interpreted to determine the location
(PETER CREED) of objects. With the aid of a bat detector, a device that converts
these ultrasonic calls into signals audible to humans, the distinctive
clicks and trills created by bats can be heard. However, many
bats echolocate at overlapping frequencies so this does not
always provide conclusive identification, so learning the general
characteristics of the more common species – their peak activity
times, favoured habitats and even distinctive foraging paths – can
further help with species recognition.
Bats roost in caves and, often right alongside us, in trees and
buildings. They may have both hibernation and maternity roosts
where females nurture a single pup each year.
Cholsey Marsh is situated alongside the Thames, 13 miles
south of Oxford as the heron flies. On late summer nights barn owls
quarter the marsh, the insect-like churr of grasshopper warblers
drifts from the reedbeds and bats emerge as day dissolves into
twilight.
The first bat to appear is likely to be a noctule, flying high over
open areas. Common and soprano pipistrelles fly shortly after
sunset. Daubenton’s bats, although only emerging when fully dark, (KATRINA M
are one of the easiest bats to identify, skimming low over water
snatching flying insects. Serotine and brown long-eared bats have
also been recorded on the marsh.
Cholsey Marsh is on the Thames Path National Trail, bordering
both the North Wessex Downs and Chilterns Areas of Outstanding
Natural Beauty, which makes it a great place to explore throughout
the year as part of a longer walk in the area.

Wayfaring tree

(PETER CREED)

The marsh at Cholsey Marsh.
(JIM ASHER)

Wildlife news / August 2019 5