Activity patterns of pipistrelle bats ( Pipistrellus pipistrellus) in Oxfordshire

• Published in: Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Maier, Celia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1992
• Subjects: Pipistrellus pipistrellus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1992.tb04433.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1469-7998.1992.tb04433.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1992.tb04433.x; https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1992.tb04433.x

A maternity colony of pipistrelle bats ( Pipisfrellus pipistrellus ), in Oxfordshire, was monitored between 1 March 1989 and 6 October 1989. An infra‐red ‘automatic bat counter’ was installed at the roost, to record the number of bats entering and leaving each minute throughout the night. Air temperature, light intensity at sunset, cloud cover, wind speed and rain were recorded on each night of monitoring. Insect abundance was estimated on 18 nights. The nightly activity pattern was found to be unimodal in pregnancy, bimodal during lactation and unimodal post‐weaning. The mean time that each bat spent outside the roost ranged from 103–483 min, with a mean of 321 min. Ambient air temperature and length of night were significant factors affecting mean time spent outside the roost. The percentage of the night which the bats spent away from the roost ranged from 22 to 88%, with a mean of 64%. There was a significant positive correlation between ambient air temperature and percentage of the night spent away from the roost. Insect abundance showed no significant correlation with the time that bats spent outside the roost. Wind and rain had no apparent effect on time spent outside the roost.