There's a bat in my kitchen, what am I gonna do?
By Ryan Greaves
Communities and Wildlife Leader
I got a call from Alex Collins, Sussex Wildlife Trust's Facilities Officer, a few weeks ago saying he’d discovered a bat stuck in the kitchen at the Trust's Woods Mill offices and asking me if I could help. Not sure quite how it got in as all the doors were locked. Luckily I wasn’t too far away and I always have my bat rescue box in the car.
The bat was a male Soprano Pipistrelle and, although a bit stressed and dusty, he had no obvious injuries. He was a bit underweight, so spent a couple weeks at Amanda Millar’s bat hospital feeding up and practicing his aerobatic skills in the “Batzebo” flight cage until he was ready to go.
So I waited for the weather to improve and brought him back to Woods Mill for release this week. It was a bit of a two part lift off (maybe he’d eaten too well at the hospital) but he got away perfectly in the end.
For anyone who does find a grounded or injured bat, please use this page on the Bat Group’s website to find your nearest rescuer:
https://www.sussexbatgroup.org.uk/batrescue
Comments
Great work, everyone. So rewarding to help a fellow creature.
30 Jul 2021 13:56:00
Beautiful little creature
30 Jul 2021 15:15:00
Lovely to see x
03 Aug 2021 17:30:00
Gorgeous, well done
04 Aug 2021 14:27:00
Wow! Never seen a bat that close before. He is completely weird and fascinating! Well done on the rescue.
20 Aug 2021 08:06:00
Brilliant video :-)
26 Oct 2021 10:31:00