The last bat: the mystery of Britain's most solitary animal

In a dank Sussex tunnel, a solitary greater mouse-eared bat roosts each winter. Is he the only one left in Britain? By Patrick BarkhamWe cannot speak of its loneliness, but it must be Britain's most solitary animal. For the last 16 years, every winter, a male greater mouse-eared bat has taken up residence 300 metres inside a disused and exceedingly damp railway tunnel in West Sussex. The greater mouse-eared bat has been all but extinct in this country for decades. This is the only remaining one we know of. The future of the species in Britain appears to rest with one long-lived and very distinctive individual.The greater mouse-eared bat is so large that observers who first discovered it in Britain likened one to a young rabbit hanging from a wall. In flight, its wings can stretch to nearly half a metre - an astonishing spectacle in a land where bats are generally closer to the size of the rodent that inspired their old name: flittermouse. Continue reading...