Thu, July 23rd, 2015
Bat and Moth Evening
Posted in the News Category
News
Thursday 23rd July proved to be a perfect evening for the first Bat and Moth Evening organised at St Augustine’s by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. About 15 people joined Trust members at 9pm on a fine and windless night and we were issued with bat detectors. These enable you to hear the sounds from the bats (and the occasional mobile phone) which are too high-pitched for the human ear to hear naturally. At first we saw a lot of swifts flying around, particularly towards the back of the church. Swifts, like bats, feed in the air and the swifts were enjoying their supper of midges. The swifts soon went to bed and we could clearly hear the sounds made by the bats, soon followed by being able to see the bats themselves.
There was also a moth trap set up behind the church (beside the memorial bench for Marguerite Thomas). A very bright light attracted the moths and they flew into the trap under the light where they would be identified and classified before being released. We were shown several different moths, ranging from tiny micromoths to very large moths.
There were also a couple of young cats playing in the churchyard completely unfazed by this large group of people near them.
This was a very interesting evening and proved that you don’t need to travel far to see wildlife – only as far as St Augustine’s.
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