Pipistrelle bats web cam 1 - The Lost Gardens of Heligan

Live Cams The Wildlife Project The Technology Eco-watch & Heligan Visit The Lost Gardens of Heligan

Barn owl cameras Mammal cameras Bird feeder & table cameras Other wildlife cameras

Archive webcam images:
These bat images of pipistrelle pups and mums were taken from footage recorded via our remote cameras in a maternity roost. The pups are born blind and naked but soon cluster together just like their mums. The images of the sparrows were taken this summer and many of you will have seen the young live on Springwatch. We saw some amazing views of chicks being fed huge insects by the keen parents! The next boxes have been used for a number of years and are always taken up by sparrows that have up to 3 broods each season.


The first pup spotted in 2006		Two adult females

A cluster of pipistrelle pups		Pup and mum

Two young chicks and female		Female feeding, male in background

Male with chicks		Young chicks waiting for food

Wildlife cameras at Heligan

Cameras 1 and 2 are in the house sparrow nest box, which also brought you images of the brood live on BBC Springwatch. The box is empty now but we've cleaned it out, leaving just a small layer at the bottom of the box, and we hope that it'll be used by roosting birds.

Cameras 3 and 4 are in the pipistrelle bat maternity roost. This roost is still home to bats even during the winter, which is why we've left the cameras uploading to this website. Although we haven't seen much activity we know the bats are in the large roof space as we've watched them emerge at dusk. Keep your eyes peeled.

Pipistrelle bats

These images are live from the common pipistrelle bat roost, in the roof of the Stewards House at Heligan. BBC Springwatch brought views of our pregnant pip mums to your TV screens last year. Frustratingly, the baby pups were born the day after broadcasting had finished but the amazing footage was featured on The Really Wild show and the BBC Autumnwatch series in 2006.

More about bats

Like all other mammals, they have hair or fur on their bodies and are warm-blooded. A baby bat feeds on it mothers milk for at least a few weeks after it is born. Bats do not make nests, but choose various places throughout the year to hang up or roost. Some prefer hollow trees, others caves, some use both at different times. Many shelter in buildings, behind hanging tiles and boarding or in roof spaces.

All cameras were installed under licence from Natural England.

House sparrows

As their Latin name (Passer domesticus) suggests, sparrows have a very close relationship with man and have been an integral part of the Heligan landscape for centuries. The Steward’s House garden, pleasure grounds and hedgerows of East and West Lawn are good places to see them dust bathing and generally interacting with one another. They are very sociable birds and will flock all year round.

Come spring some pairs will speculate the nest boxes outside Horsemoor Hide in which over 50 successful broods have been raised in recent years. A large proportion of the Hide population spend the day in the hedgerow that separates Steward’s Meadow and Horsemoor; over 100 strong flock can be so loud you can hear the collective twitters and cheeps even from Hide Park Corner!

Life Cycle

Sparrows can breed all year round given warm conditions however in this country they tend to have 2 or 3 broods in natural holes and nest boxes. The nest is an untidy ball of grass lined with feathers. The pairs that breed outside the Hide can be seen live on screen and we often see 3 broods from a single box.