Swifts 'n bats

[Intertidal]

Yesterday evening down here was one of those quiet, still evenings when the sky was alive with insects. The sunshine of the day had given way to a light grey cloudy sky, so ideal conditions for watching swifts feeding on the insect hordes. I'd been clipping a hedge for most of the evening, but by about 9ish I'd had enough and settled down to watch the birds.
Swifts really are the fighter pilots of the bird word - loosley aggregated groups of birds that seem to alternate between slow(ish) fluttery circleing flight then high speed swoops and low level attacks over the gardens - absolutely brilliant to watch!
By about 10 the swifts were gone but replaced in the garden by bats - I think about 6 or 7 of them. Dunno what species. Our cat tries to catch them and makes all kinds of hilarious leaps and somersaults but with no success - he has more luck with moths tho'.
Anyone else a bat watcher?

Intertidal

[Andy2112]

Yep, love to watch the bats on an evening. They fascinate me tbh. I also watched them last week when i was down in Slaton Sands camping. :biggrin:

[g bos]

Yeah, i watch them quite a lot, normally when im fishing, they catch the line quite often giving me false bites :)

Geoff.

[Spamel]

I normally see bats at either of the farms I shoot on. They often swoop in really close, but you never get a really good look at them as they are so fast.

[Reddy]

Only get the odd bat round where I am, though I do enjoy watching swifts, swallows and housemartins.

I'm sure I've read that swifts sleep on the wing. When they have their evening feed they use warm air currants to propel them up into the high atomsphere and out of our sight, and sleep for 30 secs at a time. If that's true it's amazing :).

[robbi2]

i enjoy watching the bats in the garden on warm evenings and when out fishing on the evening rise, lovely little creatures.

[Marcus2]

Have'nt seen a swift here yet this year,I've got swallows nesting in my canoe shed and they are crapping all over the boat I'm doing up.

[JonnyP]

Got swallows here and I have seen a few martins, but no swifts. We have a lot of bats.
I love to watch the swallows when they gang up and fly together screaming away. Looks like they are having great fun..