This year's "European Bat Night" took place at the Open Air Theatre, within the Alameda Botanic Gardens on Saturday 30 August 2008.

Just over twenty people attended the event, where they could sit very much as an audience watching a performance. A breezy evening appeared to restrict the activities of the Soprano pipistrelles Pipistrellus pygmaeus which are resident in the area and would usually have been our most frequent visitors.

The Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS), which organised and promoted the event, had set up a bat detector connected to a loudspeaker, through which participants would be able to hear 'heterodyne' interpretations of the otherwise ultrasonic bat calls.

Well after sunset, the first Schreiber's or Large bent wing bat Miniopterus schreibersii began their forays over the area of the pond and stage, often providing a little more than a glimpse before they disappeared from view.

The bat detector proved its worth, by allowing all those present to hear its echolocation calls, even if some of the participants failed to spot the bat itself.

Albert Yome, GONHS coordinator for European Bat Night, was on hand to answer many questions on bats, having first introduced the evening with a short chat on Gibraltar's bats and the threats they face.

Albert Yome standing, left of picture. (Photo taken by Silaika Yome / GONHS)

For more information about GONS, please go to www.gonhs.org