Wildlife Circus

10 species of bat are now recorded at the the Filter Beds site and the adjacent river side. This is more than any site in the borough, with 5 the greatest number for a Kingston site (with the exception of Canbury Gardens and riverside). A Myotis bat with the call characteristics of a Brandt's bat, was recorded along the river wall during the developers surveys. This is the first ever record of this species for the borough. The ten bat species now recorded at the site are as follows: Pipistrelle bats: all 3 of the following pipistrelle species were recorded during the surveys by EDP (acting for Hydro Properties): Pipistrelle bats are found wherever there is connecting local green space and there are  some large soprano pipistrelle roosts in Surbiton. Early registrations of this species are  associated with the northernmost  Filter Bed, and  includes occasional use of the small pumping station at Seething Wells, which the consultants do not  accept ...

During the July Batty Boat Trip  twenty people watched Daubenton's bats emerging from their roost at the Filter Bed site. There doesn't seem to be so many bats this year and they are not in their usual hurry to emerge. Maybe the colony hasn't found the weather conditions so favourable or perhaps they have suffered due to the drainage of their foraging grounds. Studies carried out during the late 1990's and early 2000's found large numbers of Daubenton's bat spent a substantial amount of time foraging over the Filter Beds. For more on Daubenton's bat ecology see:  benton the bat Six species of bat were recorded  in all during the trip: common and soprano pipistrelle, Daubenton's and natterer's bat, noctule and Leisler's bat.