Nathusius' pipistrelle in Great Britain & Ireland

History of Nathusius' pipistrelle in Great Britain & Ireland

Nathusius' pipistrelle was first recorded in Great Britain in Walsay in the Shetland Islands in 1940 (Hermann 1992). In Ireland, the echolocation calls of an individual was recorded at Moneymore, Co. Londonderry in August 1996 (J. Russ, unpbl. data) and a month later, in September 1996, its presence in Ireland was confimed by Mike Rendle, Lynne Rendle and Angela Ross of the Northern Ireland Bat Group when a single individual was found grounded in Belfast, Co. Antrim. Since 1940, records have been infrequent and, as a result, the species was initially regarded as a vagrant (Stebbings 1988) until recently, when it was afforded the status of a migrant winter visitor (Speakman et al. 1991; Hutson 1993). Suggestions that the species may mate while in this part of its range (Hutson 1993; Harris et al. 1995) have been confrmed by the presence of songflighting males and mating pairs in south-west Britain (Barlow & Jones 1996). Recently, three maternity colonies have been discovered, one in Lincolnshire (Hutson 1997); and two in County Antrim in Northern Ireland (Russ et al. 1998; Russ et al. 2001) and it is now clear that female Nathusius' pipistrelles give birth and lactate in the U.K.

European distibution of Nathusius' pipistrelle

Nathusius’ pipistrelle, Pipistrellus nathusii (Keyserling & Blasius 1839) is found from western Europe to Asia Minor (Corbet & Harris, 1991; Strelkov, 1997a, b; Mitchell-Jones et al., 1999). The most westerly nursery colony found to date, occurs in Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland (Mark Smyth, pers. comm.), although there are indications of resident summer populations at similar longitudes in northern Spain (Rodriguez-Munoz et al., 1993).

Reproduction

During the summer, females form large maternity colonies where they give birth and raise their young (Gerell-Lundberg & Gerell, 1994). Similar colonies have been found in the British Isles (Hutson, 1997; Russ et al., 1998). Occasionally, maternity colonies may temporary move location (J. R., pers. obs.). During July and August, after weaning their young, adult females join territorial males. Males usually roost singly during the active period, forming harems during the main mating period from July to the end of August with the maximum number of territorial males occurring during August and early September (Gerell-Lundberg & Gerell, 1994). During this time, adult females found within harems are gradually outnumbered by yearlings (Gerell-Lundberg & Gerell, 1994). Songflighting males have been recorded in both England and Northern Ireland (Barlow & Jones, date; Russ et al., 1998; J. Russ, pers. obs.). There is some evidence that songflighting may also occur during spring (Russ et al., 1998). Winter hibernation has been poorly studied. Records of grounded bats in Britain on offshore islands indicate that bats are active during the winter period although the frequency is unknown.

See a video clip of a male Nathusius' pipistrelle singing for a mate!

Migration

In continental Europe during autumn and winter, P. nathusii migrates from its stronghold in eastern Europe in a south-westerly direction (Strelkov, 1969; Roer, 1995; Strelkov, 1997a, b) to central western Europe before returning to traditional breeding areas in Eastern Europe during the late spring (Aellen, 1983; Kapteyn & Lina, 1994; Jarzembowski & Stepniewska, 1998, Limpens et al., 1996). For example, bats ringed in northern and eastern Germany, Lettonia, Lithuania and northern RDA were recaptured in France during the winter months (Brosset, 1990; Schmidt, 1991). In south-west Germany, where P. nathusii is present all year round, the resident population is augmented during the winter period by migrating bats returning from summer sites in eastern Europe (Arnold et al., 1996). This is also the case in Switzerland and Austria (Roer, 1975) and possibly the Netherlands (Kapteyn & Lina, 1994; Limpens et al., 1997). Hence, there may be a transitional area in continental Europe where migrating populations mix with resident populations of P. nathusii.