A mammal not seen in Derbyshire for well over 100 years has been rediscovered this month. On Wednesday 14thAugust 2024, at the Heatherdene Car Park at Ladybower Reservoir, a Severn Trent Ranger (STW) noticed a bat hanging up on the wall of the public toilet block under the sheltered porch. Luckily, he took some photographs and these were the proof required that the rare lesser horseshoe bat Rhinolophus hipposideros has once again returned to the county. The photo went unknown until a few days later when one of the STW team showed the photos to members of BrumBats at one of their events. News made its way back to us pretty quickly at that point! The last records of live individuals were from the 19th Century in the Matlock and Dovedale areas, while there are fossil records of the species from the Peak District and at Creswell Crags. This individual bat has not been seen since so we don’t yet know whether the species has taken up residence in the area or whether it was a lone individual exploring new territory. Either way, the return of the species is very exciting, and is the thirteenth of the UK’s eighteen resident bats to be found in the county. In 2012 the late Derek Yalden, in his preface to The Mammals of Derbyshire, speculated as to whether the species would ever return to the county. Derbyshire Bat Group are now working with Severn Trent Water to deploy remote detectors in the hope that the species’ distinctive echolocation calls can be located. You can see some of the detectors we've deployed in the last few weeks in the above photos.
Listen to our Chair Steve Roe discussing the news on BBC Radio Derby
