Curious....

I was sweeping the drive outside the front window, to get rid of the dust and dead petals when I noticed a small black lump on the floor.  When I looked closely this is what I found.....

It is, I believe, a Pipistrelle bat.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/wildlifegarden/atoz/p/pipistrellebat.aspx

We have them round here and I'm not sure what happened to this one but it was there on the floor all dried out, but still with its teeth and furry body intact.

I measured it, because I thought it may be a baby, but that is the size of a fully grown bat.  There was no indicator of exactly how it met its end.  Maybe it lost a fight for territory, I don't know.

I felt sorry, because bats seem to be quite an unusual sight these days.  We do get them at dusk round here as we are close to a wood.  At one time, when my daughter was younger, we would all sit on the front doorstep watching them flap around the house.  At that time there were four or five that we used to see quite regularly.  Sometimes they used to swoop in very close.

I think I need to make a point to have a look at dusk to see if I can see the bats again.

I'm not at all happy that the very last bat that I have seen is a dead, dried up one.....