It was an interesting evening walking around the marsh tonight. I started at 18:15 with my bat detector at the ready. I wanted to see if there were any bats about after the warmest day of the year so far and also look for any frogs and toads that might be using the Reffley Reservoir.
I hadn't gone too far when I picked up my first bat, but it passed by too quickly to get a definite ID on. I stayed for a while to see if it came back, but was disappointed when it didn't. I was, however, encouraged by the fact that there were bats about.
I had a definite 45KHz pipistrelle along the edge of the Reffley Estate and heard several feeding buzzes as it passed back and forth. I picked up a second 45KHz a little further on that was feeding along the opposite side of the Black Drain.
Walking in almost complete darkness, I slipped and slid my way around the edge of the Reffley Reservoir, where I found several more 45ers and, to my surprise, a definite 55Khz pipistrelle. There weren't any bats at the far end of the reservoir/edge of Reffley Wood, but I was pleased that my torch was able to pick out the toads that were at the bottom of the reservoir. I carefully made my way around the water and counted 28 common toads and 3 common frogs, along with two fresh clumps of frog spawn - all the first for the year!
Things quietened down after then. I did have an indeterminate 50KHz pipistrelle along the cycle path and a further 4 common toads, but I then had to wait until I had almost finished before finding my last 45KHzer that was flying around the gardens opposite the Springwood.
I really enjoyed the evening and it definitely beats sitting and watching telly!
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