Bats – helpful visitors
Human body’s circadian rhythm is tied to the light /dark cycle and it is good to establish your bedtime when the sun goes down. However, when staying in Doluš, despite the spectacular starry night sky scenery that could steal some of your precious sleep… are you interested in bats? They are endangered flying mammals, nowadays in Croatia protected by the law. Although bats are becoming quite rare, it is easy to notice them in Doluš around our vacation house by night. I have been trying to photo-capture the moment of those bats for years (still unsuccessful). If you leave the light on the balcony of the house turned on, maybe you will be lucky enough to watch comfortably a skilful bat fly when hunting insects attracted by light. Bats are great flyers and amazing hunters. They help us protect the natural balance. Their diet is made of insects so protecting forest plants as well our garden from “harmful” larvae. Bats never attack people nor rush into people’s hairstyles, they really bother no one. However, sometimes in the cities a bat could get lost in people homes. The best thing to do then is to leave it in peace and dark; so the lost bat could find its way to freedom (your landlady has diverse experience with city-bats, it somehow happens that we always live in neighbourhood). We still did not have any bat visitors inside the vacation home in Doluš, but you can often see them roosting for sleep under the eaves or in the woodshed. While painting the house, the bat under the eaves was a bit disturbed. A bit earlier, we have noted a female bat settled in a decorative bird feeder with her young. It is obvious that bat endangerment largely arises from the lack of hidden cavities where they can peacefully rest. Bats are fascinating creatures important to global ecosystems so it is necessary to enable them undisturbed life among us. That is why our craftsman took action and made this fantastic (shiny and new!) bat-house as you can see in the photo. For bat-house plans and any advices, feel free to contact me by e-mail!
In the dark, bats orientate themselves using echolocation, ultrasonic signals. Special tool called „bat-detector“ can turn bat’s call frequency into a sound that people can actually hear. Interesting! We should try it in Doluš!
Croatian State Institute for Nature Protection has published useful booklet (unfortunately available in Croatian language only) in which you can see amazing photos of bats in Croatia – find it on the link: HERE
HOMEPAGE