Bats in the belfry?

Will he last that long? I don’t know how robust baby bats are :roll_eyes:

Lots online about goats milk for baby bats, and rehydration…if you have some spare time today!

Sounds like another potential addition to @DeTolkTW 's already comprehensive skill set :smiley:

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I’ve spoken to a guy at the Toulouse rehabilitation centre. So far I’ve done everything right so tonight I have to put him on the windowsill on his sock covered glass, (in a box in case he falls off), and hope mum comes for him. I’ve been giving him water with a tiny syringe.
If he’s still there in the morning, I’m to call him back and we’re going to see what he can do, but I’m not fancying the 3 hour round trip to Toulouse, bearing in mind that youngsters rarely survive without their mum or round the clock care.
He’s got some fur and his eyes were open this morning so he’s not tiny tiny but he’s not ready to leave the nest yet.

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Just last night I was bemoaning [in the dialogue for one] the absence of the sound of owls. Absolutely hootless round Placy-Montaigu [50] - and batless, too. I have not seen one in the 8 months I’ve been here.

I have also been very surprised to have seen only one rabbit.

I am chuffed to have these guys as regular callers to the flowers in the bed across the front of my terrace.

I bought a lens specially to do wildlife. I am astonished at it’s resolution.

I am a recent convert to the Micro FourThirds system of Olympus. I had to ditch the heavyweight beasts of full-frame Nikon. My old bones had been complaining about lugging this stuff around for some time.

M4/3 has opened up a whole new world of possibilities simply because the hardware is diminutive but can produce superb results and is very affordable.

If anyone is interested in doing more with photography than is possible with a point and shoot and is interested in wildlife photography in particular, I would be happy to discuss/advise/chat about that.

I’m not a wildlife specialist but what I have seen going on in the flower beds made me get stuck in - in the absence of bats and owls.

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Which lens did you buy? I too have M4/3 in the form of Panasonic.

This review covers it well. Seems like it depends which Panny you have because this lens does not have I.S. because the Olly bodies have superb 5-way I.B.I.S. And at 600mm equivalent, and as close up as I have been shooting, you defo need I.S.

I also follow this guy. He is a pro, an Olly ‘Ambassador’ and is my Mr Olly M4/3 for hardware reviews and settings tips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibSQkd4xKm4.

Here’s a review of the equivalent Panny lens, the 100-300mm f4-5.6. A bit schoolmasterish but gets the point across.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwjCtNLSBe4&t=22s

The Panny and Olly are the same price +/- €585. But there’s a new Panny 100-300 for €499 on Ebay.fr https://www.ebay.fr/itm/194164297029?hash=item2d35180d45:g:La8AAOSwBRdgG29n

I was shooting with a 40-150mm Olly - a mere €90 s/h - but realised I had to ‘get much closer’. 300mm on M4/3 is the answer. Olympus do a 100-400mm [200-800mm] which would clearly be the ‘safari’ lens of choice but the 75/100-300mm lens are fab

First stop morning coffee at mine :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: and I can fill any spaces in your car with stuff to take to my son in Holland :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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I have a Sony Alpha and LOVE it - it is the mirorless technology which means nothing to me really except that it is tiny compared to a DSLR!!!

Thanks Christopher. My G9 also has 5-way IBIS and the 100-300 you mention is a mere 500g so yes it seems like a good bet.
Actually I didn’t really get on with the Panny when I bought it and ended up buying a Nikon Z6 last year. Equivalent zooms for that would carry a big increase in weight and a big decrease in my bank balance!
Maybe it’s time to give the Panny another chance.

Oh and I forgot to say I find bats quite terrifying! Probably from when one got into the house and in mums hair when I was little! Then the HUGE fruit bats in Queensland - it was magnificent (in a freaky horror movie kind of way!) at sundown to watch them fly over from their day time beach mangroves hang out to somewhere inland!

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No problem @toryroo. I will of course be taking a coolbox full of cheese and a large box of chocolate but I’m sure I could fit more stuff in. :hugs:

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When I came ashore onto Tioman Island, off the coast of Malaysia, I couldn’t work out what all the large black blobs were, hanging in the trees at the root of the jetty. As I got nearer I saw lots of these blobs moving, crawling around the branches and over each other - fruit bats! Massive! The size of rooks. I did miles of DV tape, which I have never seen since.

The village football pitch was being methodically dug up by a pair of lizards 1m long. The butterflies were fantastic - wings the size of postcards.

In a less ‘Planet Earth’ mode, the pantry room of a place I was living in had a colony of bats living in a ventilator. We never saw the bats - they came and went from the outdoor side - but we heard a lot of squeaking and there was a filthy trail of bat poo down the wall below the grill. We were not allowed to disturb them :frowning_face:

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I went there early 90s, trekking around as you do. Was only going to stay a couple of days, ended up being 3 weeks. Fantastic place, remember thinking that the leaves on some of the trees were bigger than my flat!

The biggest bats I’ve seen are rather different - noctules - we had them around here up until 18 months ago when all bats disappeared :cry: A friend described them as flying umbrellas!

Bloody terrifying!

Imagine thousands of these flying over your house every evening :shudder:

Funny how some makes of camera just don’t feel right. I had a Panny point and shoot. Unquestionably a fine camera but I just could not get on with the ergonomics, having had a series of Canons. When I sold it and went back to a Canon, it all just ‘clicked’ again [pun intended!]

If you can get your hands on one of the Olympus OM-D series you might find one of those suits you better. The D1 is the top of the range, the D1 MkII being a superb camera now used by many pros. Dual card slots, 50Mp Hi Res composite mode [the camera takes 8 frames 1/2 pixel apart at the set shutter speed and combines them]

The D5 is the next step down - but shares some of the fab specs of the D1. The D10 is the equivalent of a Nikon DX 3500 or so.

This review by dpreview gives you the full Monty. Ultimate OM-D: Olympus E-M1 Mark II Review: Digital Photography Review.

Olly have brought out a no-brainer wide zoom - goes on sale this w/e. 8-25mm f4 Pro. Pro means, amongst other things, weather sealed, as is the D1 MkII body. Also means €999 :disappointed: That’s 16-50mm FX. One of these and the 40-150mm [80-300mm FX], you’re covered.

I went there 2001 for a week. The place has clearly being on a downward trend since it was voted one of the top 10 most beautiful islands on Earth, back in the '50’s. Scenes for the movie, ‘South Pacific’ were shot there.

At the jetty were I landed, under the trees with the fruit bats, was a burned-out restaurant. Nobody had done anything to clear up the wreckage - in fact it was attracting more rubbish, as such places do.

The cabin I first ‘booked into’ was filthy, had no running water of electricity. I went for a walk along the beach path back past the jetty and came across a group of cabins with water and lekky, a verandah to sit out on, for the same £5 p.n. I moved. In 20 years, I expect things have improved.

Maybe that was Salang? If was a bit Apocalypse Now ish back then. Remember the huts with veranda, fan and water, but think they were $3/night or ringitt equivalent back then. Luxury compared to some of the shitholes I stayed in😂