Winter - time to sleep

[Tom Arnbom]

The darkness with short days and cold nights has settled in. The knights of night are now returning to their overwintering sites here in the northern Europe - we are talking about bats. Due to the cold winter with snow and temperatures plummeting far below zero degrees Celsius, the bats in Sweden are either forces to fly south like the migrating birds, or hibernate in caves, cellars or large trees. An unexpected collaboration started a few years ago between WWF Sweden and the swedish military forces when it turned up that bats of several species had moved in to the abandoned underground secrete military forts. There are thousands of these forts in Sweden, some are like small towns with their own bus system and large docks to repair navy ships - it is like a James Bond movie.  On the 11 November 2011, we will head to Örsundet and visit one of these military forts which has been modified. It will  be the first visit for this season, and the big question is if the very rare barbastell has returned for a fourth year in a row?