Environment Matters Spring - Summer 2023

MICROBAT STYLE

Landholder Conservation Partnerships Program member Nicky Tait made an unusual discovery on her property at The Bluff.

It’s a rather strange home for them seeing as it was open to the elements from the top, such as sun and rain. They were there for a few nights then gone again. I’m hoping to install some boxes so I can encourage them back to eat all my bugs. BOXES FOR MICROBATS Microbats prefer to roost in tree hollows, but in places lacking natural habitat, an artificial box can provide refuge. Typically, a bat box has a narrow entrance slit at the bottom, a landing plate extending below the entrance, an internal cavity able to hold a group of 1–50 microbats, horizontal grooves on internal surfaces for gripping and hinged lid for monitoring. There are some important things to consider when building or installing a bat box. Find great information through the Australasian Bat Society – Ausbats.org.au

After building our dairy entertainment area I used to see one microbat which would hang upside down at night inside from the roof. I saw it on and off for a couple of weeks. Then it disappeared. Occasionally I would get one that flew inside which I would have to shoo outside. Then a few months later I was showing my father-in-law the cows and horses over the fence. My daughter had climbed up on the timber part of the fencing near the big gate. She squealed and said “OMG I can hear something!” and peered into the hollow at the top of the log. She leapt back and said “oooooh gross... rats!” Immediately I jumped up knowing full well they wouldn’t be rats and hoping it would be a micro bat family. So had a look and yes, there was all these tiny bodies squashed all together. A large family of I think around 15 microbats all piled into the end of the log.

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