13 Apr Australia Day Surprise
On Australia Day a few of our bat-trained members were settling in for a relaxing BBQ when they received an alert that a baby bat that had been dropped into the water after its mother collided with a boat off Little Manly Beach. A member of the public had rescued the baby, and had it on their boat, so corks were pushed back into wine bottles, prawns returned to the fridge, and two members headed to the beach to collect it. They parked on the boat ramp, crowded with Aussie Day revellers, and phoned the person on the boat. They were told that the their husband was bringing the bat into shore and would be there soon. Our members looked for a tinny making its way to shore, but couldn’t spot one. The person then advised that her husband was SWIMMING into shore, and was nearly there – “look for the guy swimming with one arm in the air” . They then spotted him, holding a baseball cap above his head as he swam. (No, he wasn’t swimming in circles!). He walked up the beach and delivered the precious package: inside the baseball cap, wrapped in a t-shirt, was a very tiny myotis fishing bat, weighing just 6 grams! We were very impressed that he went to so much effort to bring the tiny creature to shore – he was our Australia Day hero. Thanks to his efforts, the little bat (named Penny by the their son) survived its ordeal and was released soon after.