Lincolnshire bat smaller than a 20p coin nursed back to health

BBC News

01-05-2025

A bat that weighed less than 20p coin after getting stuck inside a museum has been nursed back to life and released into the wild.James Simpson, who runs Lincolnshire Bat Rescue (LBR) with his wife Julie, rehabilitated the male pipistrelle after it became trapped in a glue trap inside the Joseph Banks Centre in Horncastle. Mr Simpson, who lives in Croft, cared for the bat, who he named Joseph, for almost a week before it was able to rejoin the colony at Banovallum House nature reserve."He was about a year old and 3.9g in weight, which is substantially less than the weight of a 20p piece," Mr Simpson said.
'Close to death'
Mr Simpson, whose volunteer bat rescue covers the whole county, said he picked up the bat at around 23:00 BST on 17 April after receiving a call from the centre."The bat was grossly underweight and close to death."We are told it had been found inside a room with biological specimens in it, and was stuck to a fly paper trap that was used to keep a room free of flies."I worked on keeping it alive and rehydrating it."The ideal weight of the bat should have been around 5.5g, Mr Simpson said.He said the bat could have been stuck to the glue trap for three days, and that his weight was "awful". He taught it to eat mealworms after initially feeding it puppy milk formula."He turned around really well and was excellent at flying."
A social media post by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust stated: "Bat detectors picked up both common and soprano pipistrelles in our gardens and along the river."It is highly likely that this little bat is already well acquainted with the Banovallum House nature reserve, as it offers perfect feeding grounds with a wealth of insects for colonies in the area."Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.