Early Births
The earliest ever recorded wild baby bats in the UK have been born at Bodiam Castle, the National Trust property in East Sussex, it has been announced.
The four baby Daubenton’s bats were discovered this week by two licensed bat experts in a roost in the gatehouse of the fourteenth-century stone castle. It was estimated from their size that they were already several days old, putting the date of birth for the earliest recorded wild bat born in the UK as early as Friday 16 May.
Bats are regularly born earlier than usual at Bodiam Castle due to the good nature of the site, but this is the first time the castle has broken the records not only for the first births of the year but the earliest births ever recorded. The previous earliest pups at Bodiam Castle were born on 30 May 2012. The early births have been put down to the warm weather as fertilisation is both delayed and activated by weather and food sources.
Numbers at the bat colony at Bodiam Castle vary year to year, but on average there are over 200 Daubenton’s bats, with 321 recorded in 2012. see more here
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