Greater Horseshoe Bat arrives in Ireland

IT seems likely that we are gaining a new addition to our fauna: the Greater Horseshoe Bat. Bat Conservation Ireland reports that on 8 June 2020 and again during July, Nick Marchant recorded one in the Glendalough area of Co Wicklow.

Its close relative, the Lesser Horseshoe Bat is well-established in Ireland with an estimated population of some 14,000 individuals, but its distribution is confined to six western counties: Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Kerry. The ‘Greater’ is a newcomer.

The ‘Greater’ part of its name refers to the fact that it is exceptionally big; ‘Horseshoe’ refers to the fact that unlike any other Irish bats these two species have a fleshy, circular disk of skin that looks like a horseshoe surrounding their nostrils.

The fur of the Greater Horseshoe Bat is reddish-brown on its back and cream underneath. As shown above, it sleeps hanging upside-down suspended by the claws on its toes. It folds its long wings and wraps them cloak-wise around its body.

Its wings extend across its fingers, but its clawed thumbs are free and can be seen at the bottom of the image above. Its hanging wrapped body is about the size of a small pear.

Greater Horseshoe Bats are resident in South West England and South Wales and since it is known that they are extending their range in Britain, it is possible that adventurous individuals are making the 70km journey across the Irish Sea to colonise our eastern shores. The record in Glendalough is at least 150km from the nearest known roost in Wales.

Apart from the Glendalough record, there is only one other record for Greater Horseshoe Bat in Ireland. On 24 February 2013, Paul Scott spotted a single male hanging from the ceiling in a disused cellar in a building near Enniscorthy in Co Wexford.

The bat was still hibernating in the same spot in March 2013. A return visit in August 2013 recorded the bat still living in the cellar. Checks were undertaken in winter in 2014, 2015 and 2016 but the new arrival was not recorded at the Enniscorthy location again.

Could the Wexford bat have flown to Wicklow? Could the two records of this long-lived species refer to the same individual? Is there only one Greater Horseshoe Bat in Ireland? Or maybe two? Or are there more? Time will tell.

For more about Irish bats, check out the website of Bat Conservation Ireland at https://www.batconservationireland.org/.

The Greater Horseshoe Bat sleeps hanging upside-down by its toes.