So you think you’ve got bats

This summer there was an urgent call to the helpline. A woman had found a dead bat in a bedroom and heard squeaking near the window. A builder was booked to repair the gap in the window casing and replace the window frame, so she wanted to make sure no harm was going to come to the bats. The whole bedroom and loft were searched for the squeaking bats to no avail. There were three droppings on the window pane and a nice gap in the south-facing sandstone coping, so Andy sat outside in anticipation of a roost full of bats emerging. A few bats buzzed past but disappointingly none emerged from the gap. The builder was given the go-ahead to proceed with caution. The clues were all there but we still hadn’t found the roost. The householder was asked to keep an eye out for the bats and see if she could work out where they were coming from. She sent a sheepish email a few days later. She had identified the source of the squeaking: her rubber gloves.   SP.