Update on the photography of the local Bats

When I started this blog in the summer of 2008, I had no idea that I would start a second blog, Wildlife, as well as this blog on Birding mostly.

I have been thinking all this time, since June 2008, of how I can photograph these lovely creatures as they exiting the attic above the garda station. The problem being that I did not want to upset these little Bats with an overdose of "Sun/Moon"
as they come out of their hide-away. People have told me that I would indeed need to use the flash, if I wanted to get any pictures of these sensitive creatures.

We humans need a few seconds to adjust our eyes also, when we come from a cinema or other dark place, and we step out into the light. Now try and imagine that you have just seen a film, or another kind of show in a darkened theatre/room. you open the door and you are welcomed by an intensely bright light flashes right in front of you. It is hard to compare because we would be able to cope with it in a way a Bat cannot, I think. We would immediately start to question and think about what we have just seen. We have the ability to reason. things we do not know.

Please understand me well, I am not saying anything against the intelligence of this little mammal. I have an enormous respect and admiration for those which can use echo location and which can travel from A-B without hitting everything in their path. I assume that Bats, like Moths, use the Moon, as well as familiar hedges and other "sign posts in Nature" as a compass when flying to and fro.

Sometime this month, I decided to contact the Cork county Bat group and ask would they have any experience in taking pictures of Bats themselves? In the answer which I received last week, I have been vtold that I will need to apply for a licence first with the National Park and wildlife Service. I will go and see Brendan, our local Garda, soon so I can have a look at where the exit is in relation to the windows at the back of the bungalow. I want to get a picture of the situation for the NPWS, so I can attach it to the application.
Main thing is, my thinking and that of the people at the NPWS, is similar, and it is important that they understand this, I think. Disturbing the Bats is what I hope to minimize somehow, if I can do anything to make it less inconvenient for the Bats.
Any tips are welcome.
Ger from the Batgroup also said that if I get this licence, he seems to know of much more Batsites accessible to any wheels, whatsoever, as he put it. This in itself is great news, because even if I would not be granted the 'coveted' licence, he might still agree to tell me one or two of these, where I would be able to watch and observe them, leaving my camera behind for once.