I expected bats in the countryside. I did not expect bats (yes, plural) in the house on consecutive days. Yet here we are.
We had a heatwave last week, which meant we left windows wide open at night to cool the house off. One flaw in that approach: our property is bordered by a stream and forest land, thus prime habitat for bats.
As I sat working in the living room one afternoon I saw what, at first, looked like a bird flying around the entryway. Turns out, bat!
Said bat flew into the sunroom, where the cat spotted it. Then the dog caught on to the cat’s excitement and we had a menagerie of peak energy animals.
We had a game of keep away on our hands (keep the cat away from the bat, the dog away from antagonizing the cat, and the bat away from our house). It resolved quickly as all the bat needed was an open sunroom door to make its escape. A wildly exciting 5 minutes!
Then, the next evening, Charlotte (with a note of concern in her voice) said that there was a very large something on the floor. It was…another bat (a baby this time). Our theory is momma bat left via the sunroom and inadvertently left baby bat behind. Whoops!
I gathered the stunned baby bat up and placed it gently outside. Thankfully, within minutes, another bat (the same one from the previous day?) was swooping around to check out what was up with their kin. I think both bats ended up fine and (am I naive to hope?) learned their lesson.
All in all an unexpected bit of fun amidst an otherwise very hot week. I’m still boggled that windows in Ireland don’t have screens! Between the midges, spiders, and (apparently) bats it sure would be nice to have a little separation.
