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#30DaysWild Day23 – Bat reflections

Completely unexpected was the successful capture of bats in flight last night – albeit in an unconventional way. It wasn’t the plan. Bats are way too fast to even attempt to follow, far less focus on especially with a basic video camera.

The plan had been to leave a video camera recording over the pond surface to see if visiting bats will come in that low. They would probably have been a blur if they did, but they didn’t. It was a garden watching experiment and I’ve enjoyed many of these over my blogging years.

A mix of outside artificial light and the last daylight in the sky produced reflections of the flights of at least two bats in the water. Given light conditions and upload compression this is more of a garden record but I’m delighted with it as it also shows life buzzing about the pond even at night. It’s a relaxing clip instead of a wordy blog post too 🙂

This post was published by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch in June 2016.

6 thoughts on “#30DaysWild Day23 – Bat reflections

  1. I loved your video. It was quiet and contemplative. It was fun watching for the bats to flit over. That is the way we used to see them too. They would flash by in the evening. I haven't seen them in some time. Maybe I will have to get out later to see if they are still around.

  2. Hello, thanks for leaving your comments 🙂

    Lisa, great, I do find this small piece of water such a contemplative place at any time of day but this was so different. Yes, flash by they do – I hope you see them again soon 🙂

    Jade, hello and thanks for stopping by 🙂

  3. Great little video, I'd be thrilled to have bats flying over my garden! We used to have some nearby until the council cut a tree down. Love your pond too!

  4. Lovely video, Shirl – thanks for sharing it with us. We have bats in our new garden too (though I haven't managed to blog about them yet, so don't tell anyone 😉 ). I've been wondering whether it would be possible to film them too, but they are so very fast, I think your way might be the only way possible.

  5. Hello there, thanks for visiting and leaving your comments 🙂

    Zinzi, welcome and thanks, it was a very lucky capture. I was standing at the right side of the pond to get the reflections too. Once I saw them, I hoped the camera would pick them up clear enough for upload. Perhaps your bats will come back, ours whiz around the houses here. Shame you lost a tree though. Thanks, I’m really enjoying the pond more with each year 🙂

    Juliet, hello again, my pleasure. It’s not BBC Springwatch quality but for me it captures the moment nicely. Enjoy your sightings, no worries, your bat secret is safe, good luck with capturing images. I enjoy the challenge 🙂

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