The species gets its name from its distinctive horseshoe-shaped nose which is related to its particular type of echolocation system.

When roosting it hangs free with the wings more or less enfolding the body.

It eats a variety of small insects including flies (mainly midges), small moths, caddis flies, lace wings and beetles.

The population estimate for this species is considered to be of moderate accuracy.

The lesser horseshoe bat is rare in the British Isles and is confined to Wales, western England and western Ireland.

According to the Henry Schofield, pers. comm. - BCT in 2008, there were 50,000 lesser horseshoe bats in the UK. Mathew & Halliwell in the same year estimated their population in Wales to be 28,000.

All following images are from http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biology/research/behaviour/batlab/ and Gareth Jones' 2014 birding site: http://www.pixelbirds.co.uk/September2005.htm.

Gareth Jones works at the University of Bristol as a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences. He teaches mammal diversity, evolution, bat biology and bioacoustics. His research is on the ecology, conservation and evolutionary biology of bats.

Maternity colony of lesser horseshoe bats

Bats in cave

September 2005.The research team caught some lesser horseshoe bats for genetics studies from Woodchester Mansion.

Like most bats, lesser horseshoe bats live in colonies and hunt their prey by echolocation, emitting ultrasound from specialized round pads in their mouth.

How do bats get around at night, how do they avoid obstacles? How do they fly in the inky blackness inside caves, and how do they find food in the night sky?

They use a mysterious sense not possessed by humans, a form of biological sonar, sometimes called "echolocation" or "biosonar". Dolphins and toothed whales (e.g. killer whales) also possess biosonar, as do some species of cave-dwelling birds, and possibly some species of shrews and seals.

Don't be misled. Read all about biosonar signals, ultrasound and how it works...

Lesser horseshoe bats have a constant-frequency (CF) component to their calls. Male bats have a lower frequency CF component than females. Bats less than a year old have a lower frequency CF component than older bats (Jones et al., 1992).