European Bay Night was celebrated in County Galway, Ireland at Aughnanure Castle near Oughterard.

After a miserable summer, we finally got a decent morning and 26 people turned out at 5.00 am to see the bats, who didn't disappoint. Over a hundred Daubenton's bats swarmed around our heads for 20 minutes before finally zipping into the retreat inside the castle just as it became light. It was a mesmerizing event as we turned off all bat detectors and simply listened and watched as the bats swooped and soared at close quarters.

After the Daubenton's bats had called it a night, and dawn lit up the castle and it's grounds, a single soprano pipistrelle flew up and down near us in almost full daylight, feeding happily and apparently indifferent to our presence. This gave people a chance to really appreciate the difference between feeding behaviour and swarming behaviour.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable event and all those brave enough to get up at 4.00 am agreed it was worth their while.