Mad about BATS

Gail Armstrong, 61, fell in love with bats over 25 years ago, and her passion for them has never waned

- KARA O'NEILL

Gazing into her garden, towards the pond, Gail can hear the faint fluttering of wings as she trains her eyes upwards, towards the night sky.

Living in the rural Silverdale, Lancashire, Gail is perfectly placed to spot the local wildlife, but it’s the creatures that come out at night – bats – that are her favourites.

It all started when Gail saw an advert in her local newspaper for a twilight bat walk, back in 1994.

‘I’d always been interested in nature and animals, and I was always looking to learn more, so the idea of going bat spotting really appealed to me,’ Gail says.

‘And from the word go, I was completely enthralled. I’d planned to stick around for an hour or two, and then head home, but I ended up staying out watching the bats until 5am.’

As soon as Gail had managed to catch up on sleep, she knew she wanted to find out more about bats.

‘I started reading up on them, and found them so fascinating… About how they’re the only true flying mammal, how they can eat up to 3,000 insects in a night, and the way they use echolocation to navigate.’

Wanting to get more involved, Gail signed up to be a member of the committee of her local bat group in Chorley and bought herself a bat detector, which converts the high-frequency noises that are inaudible to the human ear into sounds we can hear, as a way of finding out not only what species the bats are, but possibly where they are flying to and from.