Watch as wildlife volunteers respond to colony of bats trapped in Eastbourne drain

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) volunteers were called to the incident in Stone Cross at 9.45pm on Monday (August 10).

Resident Amanda Pye, from Beechfield Close, made the call to WRAS after hearing a ‘strange noise’ nearby.

She said, “We heard a strange noise coming from outside the front door and at first we weren’t sure what it was or where it was coming from.

“After some looking around we found these little creatures chattering away in the bottom of the drain so we called WRAS for help.”

WRAS attended the incident at around 10.20pm and stayed at the scene into the early hours of the morning.

A WRAS spokesperson said the down pipe and drain grill had to be unscrewed so rescuers could put an arm down to try and reach the bats.

WRAS rescue co-ordinator Trevor Weeks said, “It was a difficult rescue and we needed to be very patient. We could only put our arm down so far as the pipe bent away out of sight, meaning every time we moved the bats crawled away out of reach.”

According to WRAS, rescuers were able to catch three of the bats and get them into a secure condition.

The bats, WRAS said, were left close to the drain so their calls could be heard by the remaining bat down the drain.

Trevor said, “The last bat was really wary and the slightest move and it backed off out of sight. I waited for hours trying to catch him but eventually he disappeared and was not seen for ages.”

A bit of cloth was left hanging down the drain in case the bat tried to make it out overnight and a video camera was used the next day to see if it was still trapped, but there was no sign of it.

The WRAS spokesperson said, “The three rescued pipistrelle bats were taken to Amanda Miller of the Sussex Bat Group for a check up and assessment. She confirmed them as being juvenile Soprano Pips.

“They were given a hearty meal and taken back after dark the following day and released onto the wall of the house to fly off and explore.”

Amanda added, “We were very impressed with the speed of response and professionalism with which the whole situation was handled by the rescuer.”

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