Bat Species in Kent

(Pipistrellus pygmaeus)

This species favours water bodies for hunting chironomid flies. Maternity roosts tend to be close to rivers, lakes and gravel pits and include hanging tiles, barge boards and gable soffits. Maternity colonies are much larger than those of Common pipistrelle and usually number in the hundreds of individuals.

(Plecotus auritus)

The Brown long-eared bat is widespread in Kent but is seen less often than the pipistrelles. It usually lives in or near woodland and hunts near trees and hedgerows, sometimes flying slowly or hovering to take insects from leaves or grass. Moths are the favoured prey. Late emergence and their immediate use of tree and scrub cover makes them difficult to see. These bats prefer to roost in old houses with high timbered lofts, emerging after dark. They are opportunists and can be found in any habitat where moths are available, even on the very sparsely wooded Isle of Sheppey.

(Myotis mystacinus)

This appears to be the commonest of the three species particularly in East Kent and the only species so far found grounded. One maternity roost under hanging tiles is monitored annually and is close to the Blean Woods complex where the bats are presumed to forage.

(Myotis daubentonii)

Daubenton's bats fly late in the evening. They usually hunt insects over water, flying rapidly just above the surface of lakes and streams but will also forage in woodlands. Although regularly found hibernating underground and recorded foraging widely on lakes and rivers, few summer roosts have been discovered in Kent. 

(Myotis bechsteinii)

Bechstein's bat, one of the UK's rarest mammals, was first found in Kent, hibernating, in 2001. A lactating female was recorded in 2009 in canopy oak woodland in West Kent. Subsequently several maternity tree roosts were discovered in 2012 in the same vicinity.  Bechstein’s is rare partly through lack of canopy oak woodland in Kent being an old growth woodland specialist.

(Nyctalus noctula)

The Noctule, another large bat, flies high and fast over trees, pasture, and marshy places. It is almost entirely dependent on trees for roosting. It uses steep dives from height to catch its insect prey consisting of chafer and dung beetles and moths. This species appears to move roosts frequently. It often uses large water bodies to forage such as Stodmarsh and Mote Park Lake. Loss of roosts due to felling of mature trees with suitable hollow trunks and limbs must have impacted the population. Modern industrial farming methods have drastically reduced insect prey availability.

A single Greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis), a young male, was found hibernating at Dover in 1985.

In September 2004 a male Pond bat (Myotis dasycneme) was found grounded in Ramsgate. It subsequently died. It was presumed to be a vagrant from the near continent.

Three Kuhl’s pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus kuhlii) , a male and two females, have been found grounded in recent years, two along the Channel coast and one along the Thames Estuary. It is thought this represents population expansion from the Near Continent due to climate change. It is likely this species will be found breeding in one of the south Kent coastal towns in the next few years.

Greater horseshoe (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) was recorded in four development sites around Dover in 2019. Sonogram records were confirmed by KBG. The last record was from a static detector placed at a suitable foraging site in Elmsvale in 2020. These records probably represent expansion of this species in the UK and these records are likely to be of pioneering males. The nearest known maternity population is close to Boulogne, France.

Since winter 2020 a single Lesser horseshoe (Rhinolophus hipposideros) has been recorded hibernating in Dover each year.