THIS little bat weighs little more than a pound coin but has made a near 1000 mile journey to his new home on the Sussex shore.

Bat experts working at a nature reserve were astounded when they discovered a Nathusius’ pipistrelle bat which had travelled 905 miles from its home in Lativa in just 50 days.

The bat was caught and fitted with a metal code on its wing near Pape in the south-west of the Baltic country, on August 20.

When the experts netted the bat at Rye Harbour and checked the code they discovered the little mammal and flown all the way from Latvia to Sussex.

The discovery was made by project leader Daniel Hargreaves, along with Sally-Ann Hurry and Roger Jones, who were stationed at the reserve studying the migratory patterns of bats.

The trio are part of the Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Group in the UK and Europe doing research on behalf of the Bat Conservation Trust and Natural England.

Mr Jones said you had “more chance of winning the lottery” than finding one of the pre-tagged bats.

He said: “We did not realise at the time, we had to investigate the number, but when Daniel’s contacts came back with where it had come from it is quite amazing.

“It is something we were pretty sure happened but nobody had really confirmed it. It was considered quite rare but through the trappings we are catching quite a few and this just proves they are migrating across the Channel.”

He added “for this size of bat, it is the furthest we have seen one travel” and said there are also trapping operations happening in Kent and Lancashire examining the bat’s migratory behaviour.

Once trapped and recorded the bats are then released.

Mr Jones said: “They are very misunderstood creatures and deserve a lot more respect than they are given.”

The Rye Harbour reserve is a site of special scientific interest and is administered by the Sussex Wildlife trust.

Michael Blencowe, a wildlife officer at the trust, said odds of the bats being recaptured are described as “astronomical” and congratulated the trio on their discovery.