I went to the attic at work to take down the Christmas decorations, pulled out the box,
and squealed! I thought the furry thing clinging to the box was an enormous spider, but, to my great relief it was a sleeping bat! I've always had a soft spot for bats, despite being bitten by a fruit bat at Steve Irwin's wildlife park in Australia when I was a kid (I did stroke his furry tummy, so I probably deserved it). Bats are super-cool critters. After a bit of googling ( ie internet searching And staring at bat), I decided it would be wise to ring the Bat helpline.
I found out:
There are 17 species of bat in the UK, they are endangered
It's illegal to disturb a roosting/hibernating bat
Property developers hate them because it means they can't knock down old buildings if Bats live there! mwahahaha.
Our bat was probably a common pipistrelle, according to the bat folk, whom I sent this photo to:
Isn't it cute? covered in cobwebs, which I guess happens if you hibernate, and only about 5 cm long. It certainly made my day!
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