Brown Long-eared Bat
Plecotus auritus
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Ears nearly as long as its body — and it hunts so quietly it is known as the whispering bat.
Unmistakable when seen properly: a medium-sized bat with enormous ears almost as long as its head and body combined, curled back like a ram's horns when at rest and tucked under the wings in hibernation. The fur is a soft grey-brown. Brown long-eared bats roost in older buildings, churches and barns, and hunt the woodland and mature treelines around Dumfries.
Behaviour
Those ears allow it to hunt by listening rather than shouting: it echolocates very quietly and can instead pick up the faint sounds a moth or caterpillar makes moving on a leaf, then hover and pluck the insect straight off the foliage. Prey is often carried to a favoured feeding perch, and the accumulated discarded moth wings beneath it are a reliable sign the species is using a building.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Vesper bats (Vespertilionidae)
- Size
- Wingspan 24–29 cm · ears up to 4 cm long
- UK status
- Protected under UK and European law
Photo by Fourrure from France, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons