KATE BRADBURY

As the nights draw in, encountering bats can be a magical adventure

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"THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT seeing a bat that makes you shout "bat!" It's the only way to greet one on summer nights around the campfire, waiting for the first to start flitting around the treetops, or in autumn, as the nights draw in, and you see them at teatime. "Bat!" you say to whoever you're with, or the dog, or yourself. "Bat!"

I love bats. In the UK we have 18 species, though only 17 are known to be breeding (the 18th is the greater mouse-eared bat, of which there are only two known individuals in the UK). When I lived in London I'd often take part in bat surveys along the Thames in Richmond, walking along a street-lit section of the towpath and then an unlit section, to study the effects of light pollution on foraging behaviour.