Our very own Bat Cave

A few days ago, about to have a cup of coffee on our patio, I needed to raise one of our parasols. A minute later Chris said "A bird just flew out of the parasol". We were surprised at this but assumed it had found its way up inside the folded parasol by accident.

The next day, with the parasol having been folded down overnight, we again put it up around the middle of the day, and, after I had sat down I noticed something flying from the direction of the parasol towards our loggia. I thought it looked more like a bat than a bird - and indeed, on looking up in the roof of the loggia, there was the nose of a small bat poking out from between the tiles.

On the third day, we thought we should raise the parasol slowly, just in case - and there he/she was - hanging upside down inside our parasol. We folded it back down and left it to its new found daily resting place. It has been there every day since - whether we raise the parasol and disturb it for the rest of the day - or leave it in peace.

I think it is probably a Pipistrelle.

I attach a couple of photographs of our bat - if anyone thinks it is a different species, or has a similar story - I would be pleased to hear your comments.

For the moment it seems to like the shelter of our parasol during the day, and so long as it doesn't mind being disturbed sometimes, we are happy for it to continue to use it.