Hawksmere counts its bats

Hawksmere Methodist Church has completed its first official bat survey, after an ecologist from the county council spent Thursday evening in the churchyard with a clipboard and a machine that makes bats audible. The survey confirms what the flower rota has suspected for some years.

The colony roosts in the roof space above the organ and numbers seven pipistrelles, or possibly eight, as one may have come round twice. They emerged at thirteen minutes past nine and were described by the ecologist as a healthy maternity roost, a phrase the congregation has decided to take as a compliment.

Volunteers took turns with the detector, which translates the bats into clicks. Mrs Freda Cattermole listened for a full minute, pronounced it very interesting, and returned to the sandwiches. Wilfred Stanhope, who has raised the matter of the third pew at every church council since 2019, regards the count as vindication and has asked for it to be minuted.

The bats are protected by law and cannot be asked to leave, which makes them the only members at Hawksmere whose attendance is guaranteed. The Sunday school has already given all seven names, which Rev'd Wendy Warburton fears settles the matter permanently.

A follow-up count is planned for May. Refreshments were served in the porch afterwards, and the bats did not stay for cocoa, which those present agreed was their loss.