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Stunning shots of thirsty bats swooping down for a drink from garden pond


Swooping low over a garden pond in Surrey, these are the stunning pictures of bats enjoying an evening drink at their favourite watering hole.

They are so detailed you can even see the night creatures slurping from the pool with their little pink tongues.

The amazing shots were taken after months of painstaking planning by wildlife photographer Kim Taylor.



After noticing the beautiful bats flying close to his garden pond at night Kim began wondering how he could capture the moment they drank from the pool.

Travelling at 20mph, with wing beats not visible to the human eye and flying mostly at night the bats are notoriously difficult to photograph.


They are also no bigger than a human hand and weigh less than half an ounce.

Kim, 76, rigged ropes across the pond which encouraged the bats to drink from a certain point. Then, using special sensors designed by himself, he managed to get the perfect shots.


He said: 'I think not one in a million people has ever seen this happen but it happens every night during the summer months all over the country.

'These photos were taken with a digital camera using a device that listens for the ultrasonic squeaks.

'An infrared beam was then set to trigger flash lamps whenever a bat dipped down to scoop up a mouthful of water.

Kim's subjects are believed to be a Brown long-eared and a Daubentons bat which have made their homes in his garden near Guildford, Surrey.

'In all my time working as a wildlife photographer I don't think anyone has ever tried to do this like this, I am very pleased with the results.

'It took weeks and a lot of patience to set up but the results are breathtaking.'


Except for the camera itself, Kim designed and built all the equipment to achieve the amazing shots.

To generate enough flash to capture the shot Kim needed an incredible 3,500 volts.
Heather McFarlane, from the Bat Conservation Trust, said she was stunned by the photographs.

She said: 'Our experts have never seen anything like these shots before, to capture these bats in flight so clearly is amazing.'





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BatsRule!: Stunning shots of thirsty bats swooping down for a drink from garden pond
Stunning shots of thirsty bats swooping down for a drink from garden pond
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