Bat Flying Inside a Building
Always wear gloves to handle bats. If you need help, call the Bat Helpline - 0845 1300 228
A bat flying in a room is looking for a way out!
Bats
have a very sophisticated system for finding their way around in the
dark, but despite this, some do end up getting trapped inside
buildings. This happens most often between mid-July and mid-August when
baby bats are learning to fly, and they are inexperienced in using
their newly developed echolocation skills. This means that when they
are finding their way back to the roost after hunting they might crawl
through the wrong gap or through an open window, especially if this
window is beneath the roost entrance; they will then find themselves
inside the house rather than in the roof. Bats are very small and need
only a very small space in order to gain access, so sometimes it can be
very hard to tell how a bat got in.
The best course of action is to close the door to the room, and to open the windows to the outside as widely as possible, dim the lights and give the bat the chance to find its own way out. Bats navigate by sending out high-pitched sounds and listening for the echoes so the bat should soon detect any opening that leads out of the room. If it does not find its way out it will roost somewhere in the room when it becomes light, and will appear again the following evening at dusk. If you wish to search the room to ensure the bat has gone, the best places to look are in the folds of curtains and behind picture frames and other places that are high up and where the bat can roost out of the light. However, bats have been found hanging from the tassles at the bottom of an arm chair, so do check at a lower level as well.
NEVER try to catch a flying bat - you are likely to injure it severely and it may even bite in self-defence.
Sometimes young bats, which are inexperienced flyers, will become exhausted before finding the way out. They may try to land on a wall or curtains, or they may crash land on furniture or the floor. In this case, you should contain the bat, and then release it in the evening.