Rare bat crashes into car after '1,000-mile trip'

Julie Kilmartin wore PPE to prevent spreading diseases or viruses to the protected species and to protect herself

A rare bat which is thought to have travelled as far as 1,000 miles (1,609km) has been rescued after crash-landing into a car windscreen.

The Nathusius' pipistrelle, which suffered some bruising in the crash in Whitburn, South Tyneside, has been rehabilitated by carers in Sunderland.

The Durham Bat Group said it was a "once-in-a-lifetime" sighting of a species mainly found in Russia and Poland, and described the find as "significant".

After several days of treatment the bat, affectionately named Nancy by her carers, was released to find those who had been flying alongside her.

She had been spotted flying from across the North Sea as part of a cloud of bats, before being the only one to collide with the car on 7 September.

Bat group volunteers were later made aware of the find and spent several hours confirming it was in fact the rare species, based on markings on her wings.

Nancy had been seen among other bats coming in from the North Sea

Julie Kilmartin, who took Nancy into her home, said there had been a "lot of excitement" and people were "bombarding her all weekend" after learning of the find.

"It's quite a big feat for something of this size to fly that far," she said.

"They're not like birds, they don't have hollow bones, so it takes an awful lot of effort to do what she's done along with her little friends who came with her."

It is thought Nancy had migrated from abroad due to the way she arrived, and the direction of travel, before the crash.

The type of bat was confirmed by numerous specialists, says the Durham Bat Group

There has been one prior recording of this type of bat in Sunderland but that was in 2016, while there have been just 358 reports across the entire North East, said the Environment Records Information Centre North East.

Research remains limited, although one Nathusius' pipistrelle was tracked travelling from Northumberland to Poland in 2017.

"It's incredibly significant because of the distance we believe they've travelled," said bat group carer Lauren Davison.

"We know they come here to mate, to hibernate, but what we don't know is why they make this journey."

Ms Kilmartin and Ms Davison used a bat detector and heard what she though was Nancy's fellow travellers nearby before releasing her

Over the weekend, Nancy was released after Ms Davison and Ms Kilmartin were satisfied she had recovered and was well-fed for her next journey.

"It's an incredible feeling, you know you've done the best for her," Ms Davison said.

"In my hands I could feel she was ready, she was excited, she was ready to go and she was pushing through my fingers and she wanted to go."

It is hoped the sighting will help feed into a wider research programme to find out where these type of bats go.