Photographer Alan Simpson caught something quite rare in his lens earlier on Saturday – a brown long-eared bat out and about in broad daylight.

This is a rare species anyway, but it is seldom that any bats are ever seen until dusk. The wee creature has see-through ears, and as well as flying horizontally it can hover like a helicopter. It eats moths, beetles and other insects which it finds either on the wing or on vegetation. It is probably just out of hibernation given the weather, although experts say that it does fly quite often during winter.

A typical bat of this species weighs about 6 to 12 grams and it is under threat globally.

27/4/2024Picture Alan SimpsonA brown long-eared bat beside the river Tweed out and about unusually in daylight.
27/4/2024Picture Alan SimpsonA brown long-eared bat beside the river Tweed out and about unusually in daylight.
27/4/2024Picture Alan SimpsonA brown long-eared bat beside the river Tweed out and about unusually in daylight.
27/4/2024Picture Alan SimpsonA brown long-eared bat beside the river Tweed out and about unusually in daylight.
27/4/2024Picture Alan SimpsonA brown long-eared bat beside the river Tweed out and about unusually in daylight.
27/4/2024Picture Alan SimpsonA brown long-eared bat beside the river Tweed out and about unusually in daylight.
27/4/2024Picture Alan SimpsonA brown long-eared bat beside the river Tweed out and about unusually in daylight.
27/4/2024Picture Alan SimpsonA brown long-eared bat beside the river Tweed out and about unusually in daylight.
Phyllis Stephen
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.