During September Toby attended a week long bat research workshop in a small coastal village called Sougia in Crete. In 2008, 17 bat species of bats had been recorded on Crete, some of which only occur in the eastern Mediterranean. The European free-tailed bat (Tadarida teniotis) is the most widely recorded species, but also found on this island are Blasius’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus blasii), Long-fingered bat (Myotis capaccinii), Kuhl’s pipistrelle (Pipistrellus kuhli), Savi’s pipistrelle (Pipistrellus savi), Hanaki ‘s dwarf bat (Pipistrellus hanaki), plus Kolombatovic’s long-eared bat (Plecotus kolombatovici) and Mountain long-eared bat (Plecotus macrobullaris).
Toby was involved in carrying out an inventory of bats in the southwest of Crete by a combination of bat detector surveys, trapping at underground site entrances and at ponds, over streams and in gorges, including the 17km long Samaria Gorge, which is one of the longest gorges in Europe.
Species Toby recorded in Crete;
European free-tailed bat
Lesser horseshoe (Rhinolophus hipposideros)
Greater horseshoe (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum)
Blasius’s horseshoe bat
Kuhl’s pipistrelle
Savi’s pipistrelle
Hanaki ‘s dwarf bat
Long-fingered bat
Lesser mouse-eared bat (Myotis blythii)
Whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus)
Lesser mouse-eared subspecies
Shreiber’s bat (Miniopterus schreibersii)
Mountain long-eared bat
Kolombatovic’s long-eared bat