Bats in Bucks
Records held by the North Bucks Bat Group have mostly been collected by group members since 2002. There are some older records produced by volunteers in the 70s and 80s, and some records are over 100 years old, although many of these older records give insufficient information to be of use to us today.
One of the key objectives of the group has been to fill in gaps in our knowledge of bats in the county. This has resulted in the addition of many hundreds of new sightings and several new species not previously observed before in the county.
There are 17 species of bat known to breed in the United Kingdom. Their local status is shown in the listing below:
| Pipistrelles | |
| Common pipistrelle | Widespread and common throughout the county |
| Soprano pipistrelle | Widespread and common throughout the county |
| Nathusius' pipistrelle | Nationally widespread but rare, only a handful of records in the south and east of the county. Further investigation required |
| Long-Eareds | |
| Brown Long-Eared | Widespread and common |
| Grey Long-Eared | Restricted to South Coast of England |
| Bigger bats | |
| Noctule | Widespread and fairly common |
| Serotine | Widespread and fairly common in the south of the county |
| Leisler's | Nationally widespread but rare, scattered records in Bucks |
| Myotis species | |
| Daubenton's | Widespread and common over water |
| Natterer's | Widespread and fairly common |
| Whiskered | Widespread but fairly rare |
| Brandt's | Nationally widespread but rare, slightly more common in Northern England, only one confirmed record in Bucks |
| Alcathoë | First discovered in UK in 2009, national distribution not known |
| Bechstein's | Nationally very rare, single record in Bucks but occasional records in neighbouring counties. A national survey using novel techniques is currently taking place to find out more about this elusive species |
| Barbastelle | |
| Barbastelle | Nationally very rare, some clusters of records in Bucks |
| Horseshoes | |
| Greater Horseshoe | Mainly confined to SW England and Wales, their range is starting to increase. Only one confirmed record in Bucks |
| Lesser Horseshoe | Mainly confined to SW England and Wales, only one confirmed roost in Bucks |