Bats, a much maligned target of myth and inaccuracies, have a poor public image. Blame it on all those vampire stories - and there are no vampires in Europe, never mind Ireland. The world's only flying mammals, bats are warm-blooded and are not rodents, as is so commonly believed. Nor are they blind; they merely depend more on hearing than sight. As they hunt at night they use sonar, or echo-location, to track their prey. Ireland's nine species of bats are insect-eaters. They are not interested in getting tangled in your hair, unless, of course, you happen to harbour an insect colony on your head.
Despite being protected under European and Irish conservation law, our bat population is also at risk, particularly, ironically, because of conservation work such as the re-pointing of stonework on old buildings. These extraordinary little creatures seek out cosy spaces such as crevices to roost in and so are easily entombed in old stone into which liquid cement is pumped. Misunderstood or not, it was extremely heartening for bats to see Niamh Roche's bat talk and walk fully booked out at this year's ESB Lough Ree Environmental Summer School and Arts Festival at Lanesborough, Co Longford.
Lanesborough is situated on the borders of Co Longford and Co Roscommon. The sun had not yet set over a long summer's evening as bat lovers, the interested and the curious gathered for a pre-walk lecture in a local hall. It was immediately apparent that bats attract a broad range of humans. Dr Roche, who has carried out a number of bat-conservation studies on various roosts - including that at St Brendan's Cathedral, Clonfert, Co Galway - brought her audience through a practical introduction to the biology, eating habits and preferred habitat of bats without once assuming the tone of a zealot. Should the bats of Ireland be looking for a sensible champion, she must surely be it.
Supporting her observations with a series of slides, she explained the complex, extended long-fingered hand-like structure of the bat's wing, hence the name, Order Chiroptera. It is also worth knowing that there are 4,000 species of mammals in the world and of those just under 1,000 are bat species, including about 150 Megachiroptera or large bat species; the remainder, Microchiropetra, small bats, include Ireland's nine species. The Irish populations of Leisler's - the biggest Irish bat - and the lesser horseshoe are the largest known in Europe. Mothers have one baby each and form huge maternity colonies each summer.
Pesticides and insecticides are fatal to bats. Many have been unintentionally killed by timber treatments in attics.
Dr Roche made the point that due to Ireland's lack of caves, mine shafts and old, mature woodland houses provide important summer roosts for bats. Decaying mansions and ruined castles, as well as churches, are popular.
Bats are pragmatists. With the onset of winter, falling temperatures and the scarcity of insects, bats hibernate, reducing their normally rapid heartbeat to as low as 20 beats a minute. While most Irish species crawl into crevices, the lesser horseshoe, with its distinctive habit of wrapping its wings around its body, hangs upside down resembling a small plum.
Admittedly not the most handsome of animals, bats are quite sweet in an ugly sort of way while the brown long-eared possesses a certain elfin charm - yet enough of this . . .
Armed with these facts, we intrepid batwatchers set off at dusk. Initially skirting the shores of Lough Ree as the ducks were settling for the night, the group waited and Roche explained the use of bat detectors. These transistor-like devices are tuned to the various bat sound frequencies of the respective species.
As bats in flight are impossible to identify by sight, their individual sound patterns, as distinct as national or regional accents, determine the species. I have to admit the more bats you see, the more you want. Obsession is the next stage. And yes, they are quick. While individually we were no doubt moving as deftly as cats, collectively we sounded like a small army.
Excitement soon turned to anxiety as humans are impatient. Would we see any bats? Before long a stock comment became a chant - "Is that a bird or a bat?" We tramped on, increasingly less cat-like, deeper into the woodland area. Dusk had become night. Clicks and squeaks from the bat detectors were announcing the presence of bats. They darted by, mostly soprano pipistrelles at the highest register of the three species of pipistrelle bat, an ultrasound waveband or frequency of 55 kHz. Each time a bat caught an insect, the detector emitted a popping sound described by the English bat expert also present as a "raspberry". At least one Leisler's was detected. Undaunted by us, the bats provided a casual aerial display. Having seen and heard our bats, we returned in triumph.
