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taking place regularly, there were just 10 bats
hibernating at this site. This year saw 38
bats - mainly Daubenton's but also Natterer's
and Brown Long—Eareds — making this site second
only to Westerham's 59 in order of importance
in the south-east of England. During the same
period, 9 bats of the same three species were
counted at an ice-house in central Essex.
Spring opened with two more records of
Leisler's bats from Terling and Hutton be-fore
the -first house complaint of 14 Serotines at
Abberton, where a Hobby was seen to harass
Noctule bats one evening. A record count of
45 Serotines was made at South Woodham Ferrers
in May, followed by another county record of 41
Leisler's at Aveley.
The Pipistrelle season started in June and
numbers seemed to be about 8% better than last
year, although this was based on a small sample
of counts. The large roost at Maldon
contained 694 bats and that at Little Baddow
656, before declining to 440 on the evening of
the E.F.C. field meeting. Here, about 20
members and friends got a crick in their necks,
looking skywards to count emerging bats.
Another county record was achieved with 22
Brown Long—Eared bats at Gosfield in July in a
former stable-block that had been occupied for
years judging by the carpet of droppings on the
floor of the attic. Other late summer records
included breeding of Leisler's bats at both
Danbury and Collier Row, with an additional
record coming from South Ockendon. Finally, a
project was undertaken to revisit houses that
had been sprayed with permethrin in the
previous three years. In all cases, evidence