it has been a while since my last post...Too busy with bat work and also little news on the bat house front....
But this is really something I would like to share:
About 1,5 year ago a friend of mine asked me about the possibility of raising a pole mounted bat house in a nature reserve nearby. He is the manager of that nature reserve. He liked the idea of pole mounted bat houses a lot and likes to try something new. (<== putting a bat house on a pole is not very common in the Netherlands, or Europe). I made a simple drawing for him. The bat house I had in mind was central bat "cube" with many chambers, with four other bat houses on the outside of that "cube" and those bat house he should buy at a new bird and bat house company in the Netherlands.
I had almost forgotten about the idea when he surprised me a few weeks ago with the finished bat house and the plan to mount it in the same week. That was just great!
It was terrific to see a simple plan made real by a group of enthusiastic builders and we had a lot of fun while mounting the bat house.
Below are some picture and a link to a video.
the bat house.
the bat house from below.
my lovely wife standing near the bat house.
the bat house is placed near a tree line where many bats fly by.HERE IS A VIDEO OF THE INSTALLATION.
More pictures are in this Flickr-set.
About three weeks after the installation I checked the bat house and it was already used by 1 Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) .
Not the number we are aiming for, but I am very happy with the quick discovery of the bat house by these bats.
Greetings, Erik
PS: the post was edited later because of the URL of some pictures changed.
