Nope. I didn’t go and see the latest Bat Man film. Instead, I decided to brave the night time bat walk at Barnes Wetland Centre. Now I’ve been to the Wetland Centre by day many times in the past – and my kids and I love walking around all those different environments trying to spot the various waterfowl. When I mentioned that I was going on a bat walk that evening, a work colleague in the City has waxed lyrical about the new otter exhibit. Guess they’d be sleeping at night time.
At 740pm I arrived at Barnes train station (about 20 minutes from Waterloo) and started the well sign-posted 20 minute walk – along a road which had the darkening common with dense trees and woodland on either side. I was hoping that the bats wouldn’t come out early!
I was a bit perplexed when I arrived as the first two entrances were locked. So I walked on to the third entrance to find a line of cars waiting and a number of excited kids bouncing around on the grass verges. Here I met a young woman who told me that she had won the tickets on Radio Jackie for answering a question about nocturnal animals.
Just after 8pm the gates opened and we walked confidently through the strangely empty car park, across the bridge and decking with the stunning statue of Sir Peter Scott and a swan, to the entrance where our tickets were checked (booking is essential). We congregated in the large central Courtyard before being ushered into the small amphitheatre for our bat briefing.
Nick, from the education team, chatted easily with the early arrivals dispensing 1p and 2p coins to the kids for use later in the lecture. He also fielded questions about the centre generally – apparently it had been four Thames Water reservoirs and a deal with Berkeley Homes has generated £11m for its conversion. I was surprised that probably half of the 40 or so folk had been on bat walks before.
Nick then spent around 40 minutes talking about bats. He dispelled some bat myths and explained that there were about 1,000 species of bats in the world. I was rather relieved to hear that there were no megabats – which can have wind spans of up to 2 metres - in the UK. And we found out what those coins were for – to understand just how tiny and light those microbats are. It was good to know that bats like eating midges and mosquitos – hopefully I wouldn’t get bitten on the walk (I had forgotten to bring insect repellent). Then we heard a bit about how echo location works before being introduced to the eight bat species we were most likely to encounter on our walk.
Then a ranger told us that we would be sent out in groups and explained how our bat detector gadgets worked – translating high pitched pings into sounds audible by humans. We were given cards which helpfully showed how to identify the different species by the frequency of the sound. I felt like a genuine scientist – until I saw how the kids had got to grips with the kit far quicker than the adults. Typical.
While we were waiting in the courtyard our gadgets alerted us to the presence of bats. And there, flitting around the eaves, we spotted a tiny soprano Pipistrelle. How exciting! Then we started walking along the board walks around the tall reed beds in the centre. There was a full moon and it was lovely to be out in the quiet so close to nature – apart from all those beeping bat detectors!
Almost immediately we found another little Pipistrelle doing some fabulous aero-acrobatics. We must have stayed there close to 10 minutes watching him (or her!). It was mesmerising. And I couldn’t quite believe that we were witnessing a real bat display so close to the City.
Reluctantly we walked on – all the time our detectors beeping to alert us to one of the larger bats (we “heard” a noctule) flying much higher overhead. There were numerous hearings and sightings of more bats – how many of these things are there? Lots!
We paused a while by a sheltered lake where we looked across at a new bat house waiting patiently to hear or see one of the Daubenton’s bats who feed close to the water’s surface. They were a no-show but we still heard and saw plenty of others.
Finally, around 1045pm, we returned our detectors and received a Bat Pack of information. One of the guides told me about the Night Time safaris that take place at the centre for children over seven years old – that sounded like fun.
Bat walks take place on Thursday evenings and more details are available at http://www.wwt.org.uk/news/all-news/2012/07/news/news-london/the-bat-walk-night-rises/. Tickets are £10. Make sure you take some warm clothes as it gets a little chilly and some water as the shops and cafes are closed.
