Lonely Sussex bat is last of its kind in UK

Mammal Society researchers believe just one greater mouse-eared bat remains in the country.

On Thursday it designated the species as “critically endangered” in the UK.

The lonely male was last spotted living in a Sussex railway tunnel, the location of which cannot be revealed.

But the poor bat was not found in the most recent search, said Mammal Society chairwoman Professor Fiona Mathews.

“He may well be a lonesome Joe or he may have passed on,” said Prof Mathews, also a professor of environmental biology at the University of Sussex.

“There used to be a colony in Dorset and a colony in West Sussex.

“There used to be about 30 in those Sussex tunnels in the Seventies.

“But for about the last ten years there has only been this one turning up in Sussex in a railway tunnel.”

Researchers only know of one greater mouse-eared bat left in the UK. Photo: Daniel Hargreaves

Prof Mathews said the species’s decline was most likely due to a lack of food.

“They feed on beetles and it’s been found worming medicine for cattle and sheep affects beetle abundance,” she said.

Bats are considered difficult to breed in captivity because they require lots of space and are difficult to track.

But there is hope a mouse-eared survivors could still live in Sussex. There hasn’t been a comprehensive survey of the area,” Prof Mathews said.

“On the Continent they usually live in places like big churches, barns, or castles, buildings with big roof space. There are a fair number of those in Sussex.”

And with many greater mouse-eared bats fleeing rising temperatures in southern Europe, it is possible some could migrate to Britain in the future.

Greater mouse-eared bats are distinctive because of their large size. Photo: Daniel Whitby

“The interesting thing is they’re now breeding in North France,” Prof Mathews said. “They’re moving northwards from their usual homes of Spain and Portugal because the summers are too hot for them now.

“We’re increasingly getting recordings of other species of bat coming here from the Continent.”

Prof Mathews urged Sussex residents to be on the lookout for the bats.

“They’re pretty distinctive because they’re quite big, their body is the size of fist,” she said. Sightings can be reported on the Mammal Mapper app.