Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae
Genus: Myotis
Species: M. myotis
Binomial name:
Myotis myotis
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The Greater Mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) is a rare bat species in Great Britain. The species was believed extinct until several individuals were discovered in recent years.
It was declared extinct about 12 years ago when the assumed last male died in Sussex, UK.
About two years ago however, individuals have been discovered around Britain. One was found by an elderly lady in Bognor, but unfortunately died. Last year a single young male was discovered hibernating in a tunnel near Chichester.
Bats are very misunderstood mammals, they are not actually blind like they are said to be and they are very skillful flyers. Bats fly mainly at night and produce a stream of high-pitched calls and listen to the returning echoes which provide them with a distinct 'sound' picture of their surroundings.
Of the 16 species left in Britain, six are endangered or rare and six others are regarded as vulnerable.
Whilst the mouse-eared bat may be an elusive character to track, the pipistrelle bat, our commonest species, can be found in abundance at Hampshire's largest bat roost - home to up to 800 bats.
Each summer large numbers of bats swarm outside their main roost. Why they do so is not known but it's thought it may be a way of calling other bats to the roost.
Whilst many people fear the bat - largely due to its fictional vampire connections - they are in fact very useful to us.
The pipistrelle is only four centimetres long and weighs less than a two pence coin but can eat up to 3,000 midges in a night.
But even the relatively common pipistrelle has declined 70 per cent since the 1970s largely due to intensive farming, particularly the use of pesticides and the removal of hedgerows.
Recent research has shown just how vulnerable our bat species are.
A study by the Bat Conservation Trust and the RSPB reveals that bat roosts are being routinely damaged or destroyed by developers.
Most of these offences occur when builders replace soffit boards on houses or renovate derelict buildings such as barns.
