Third ever Bat count held throughout Holland, Pipistrelle Bat most common

The third count of bats in the gardens of the Netherlands concluded last week, with 492 garden owners taking part in a search for the flying chiroptera after the sun had gone down. Bats were spotted in 77 percent of the gardens, with the pipistrelle bat being the most common type seen.

Mammal association Zoogdiervereniging organized the research, with 200 more gardens added to the list of sites involved compared to 2019. The participants managed to witness 2,668 bats as the animals hunted for insects, a primary food source, though about 1,900 were identified.

Just over 1,700 of those were pipistrelle bats, which were seen in 367 gardens in all. Serotine bats and red bats combined for second place, with 158 seen in 65 gardens during the two-day research. Spotters also witnessed Daubenton's bats, pond bats, and brown long-eared bat.

The more experienced bat lovers used detectors to turn the bats' ultrasonic noises into sounds that were audible to the human ear. Participants were able to conduct the count with the aid of an identification key provided by the Zoogdiervereniging.

Another bat count is scheduled for the end of this summer, on August 29 and 30.