Fabulous news for Britain’s loneliest old bat
Greater mouse-eared bat population doubles - to 2! “This is a hugely important discovery” - Bat Conservation Trust
We are delighted to hear the good news that the population of Britain’s rarest mammal - the greater mouse-eared bat - has doubled from one known individual to two!
Since 2002, for 20 winters, one solo male bat was recorded hibernating in a tunnel near the south coast, by Sussex Bat Group.
He was nicknamed Britain’s loneliest old bat. Then he vanished and was feared lost. The pandemic prevented any monitoring from 2020 until now… However on January 14 2023, two greater mouse-eared bats were discovered in two disused underground railway tunnels.
The species had previously been declared extinct in Britain. Prior to that, a small population had been infrequently recorded in Sussex and Dorset but disappeared from Dorset in the early 1970s and finally from Sussex in 1992 - until this one individual turned up in 2002 and reappeared each winter.
The discovery is thanks to the important conservation efforts of volunteers who record bats as part of BCT’s annual National Bat Monitoring Programme. Sheila Wright of Sussex Bat Group said: “This is a hugely important discovery for us and demonstrates the importance of regular monitoring of bat colonies. We could have missed this highly significant find of the second greater mouse-eared bat in Britain. It also shows how important it is to safeguard these hibernation sites for bats.”
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Posted On: 23/01/2023