Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedinA magical evening at Hill End sent Liz Nicholls into the twilight in search of bats – and left her with a new bedtime ritual.
I have a new pre-bedtime ritual. Once the day has finally quietened down, I sit in my garden and count the bats swooping overhead.
It turns out I had been woefully underappreciating them.
A recent bat walk at Hill End Outdoor Education Centre, near Cumnor, changed all that. Led by ecologist Tom August, whose PhD involved studying bats at nearby Wytham Woods, the evening began with crafts, stories and a crash course in how to use a bat detector before we headed outside as dusk fell.
The detectors translate bats’ ultrasonic calls into sounds we can hear. Turn the dial correctly and a passing pipistrelle suddenly becomes a series of clicks and chirps. Miss it, and you’re left with a gentle hiss. As Tom explained, children may even hear some of the higher-pitched sounds naturally, while those of us who have spent years standing too close to speakers might struggle.
Then came the really magical bit: wandering through Hill End as darkness descended, listening for the telltale sounds and catching fleeting glimpses of bats looping through the trees. And what creatures they are.
There are more than 1,200 species of bat worldwide, with 18 species found in the UK. All our native bats eat insects, with tiny pipistrelles capable of consuming thousands of insects in a night. The brown long-eared bat, meanwhile, has enormous ears and can listen for the sounds made by its prey before pouncing.
We learned that bats use echolocation like a natural sonar system, that their wings are essentially enormously elongated hands, and that their wing tissue is exceptionally quick to heal. We heard about vampire bats, nectar-feeding bats with astonishingly long tongues and even fish-eating bats that detect tiny ripples on the water.
But perhaps the most fascinating part was discovering just how much these small mammals rely on us. UK bats are protected by law and many use buildings, bridges and other human structures as roosts, particularly as natural habitats such as old, gnarly trees have declined.
They also have a remarkably slow reproductive rate. A mother typically has just one pup a year (a third of the size of her, eek), making every individual precious.
As the evening drew to a close, the bats became harder to spot and the detectors fell quiet. But I left looking at the night sky rather differently – and listening much more carefully.
Hill End is a pretty special place for this kind of experience. This year marks its centenary: 100 years since the first schools travelled from Oxford by charabanc to experience its outdoor education. More than a million people have since passed through its gates.
Here’s hoping there are plenty more young explorers discovering its woods, wildlife and wild corners over the next century.
And as for me? I’ll be outside at bedtime, counting bats until the last one disappears into the darkness. They hibernate through the colder months (from October), so I’ll have to make the most of them while I can.
The Hill End team are collecting your stories, and donations, to help continue this good work. Find out more at hill-end.org/about/.
Other events on the horizon include:
Woodland Spooktacular
Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th October, 10am. A Halloween-themed day of woodland fun for families.
Family Bushcraft
Saturday, 7th November, 10am. Get outdoors and learn bushcraft skills together. From £8pp
WW1 Practice Trenches
Saturday, 7th November, 10am. Explore Hill End’s historic First World War practice trenches on a guided tour. From £5pp.
Share
