The MERL (Museum of English Rural Life) is owned and run by the University of Reading, and specialises in examining the lives of farmers, craftspeople, and other rural folk in England. Their collection is vast and diverse, and offers an insight into how rural communities still shape our lives today.
Collections of rare and interesting books are stored in the UMASCS (University Museums and Special Collections Services) and it seemed one day they had a special security guard on duty… A small, furry, and nocturnal volunteer- the Nathusius’ Pipistrelle.
Volunteer, and bat specialist, Rose-Ann Movosvic was working at The MERL when she heard a cry of “BAT! BAT IN THE LIBRARY!” coming from down the hall from the UMASCS. Knowing she could not only help the person confronted by the bat, but also help identify the bat itself, Movosvic heeded the call of the bat signal.
Here is the Twitter thread detailing the ordeal…
So, we found a live bat in our rare book store.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
🦇a thread 🦇
We have a big, boring box with lots of fun, rare historic archives and books in it.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
It’s so boring on the outside we don’t have an image on file.
But it is very exciting on the inside.
It’s where we keep the Ladybird Books Archive, medieval manuscripts, our children’s book collection, the WH Smith archive – it’s a treasure trove.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
Full of lovely, lovely books.
Do you know what’s not a book?
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
* * . * . * . *
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
. * . * . .
* * . * 🦇 *. *. . *. .
* . * * . *. * .
. * . * . .
A BAT
Bats can’t even get library cards.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
But here he is, chilling above a fire exit he can’t even open. pic.twitter.com/t8Pvk7Vf16
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
He got through a tiny hole to begin with (which we're plugging) but the hole was so tiny that our bat couldn’t find the exit, like a bewildered father in IKEA.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
The bat signal was lit.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
(the bat signal is a librarian out of their depth screaming
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
‘there is a BAT
in the LIBRARY’
down the corridor)
Because the universe is weird, though, one of our volunteers and former @UniRdg_Library librarian also looks after bats in her spare time.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
Seriously, she saves bats and nurses them back to health in a spare room and then releases them back into the wild.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
Our team is full of secret X Men.
Here’s our bat. pic.twitter.com/0ycDRzG4XL
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
First things first is to check the gonads, which confirmed the bat is a boy.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
Male bat genitalia look like, and we quote, ‘an albino hedgehog’.#NSFW pic.twitter.com/XnvzcUUzok
We thought the bat was a type of pipistrelle, and after examining the ratio of forearm to 5th finger, and wing venation, it turns out to be a Nathusius' pipistrelle. pic.twitter.com/AhPtPVIGec
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
This is very cool, as the species has only recently started migrating to Britain. They’ve previously travelled from the Baltic to settle in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium or France. pic.twitter.com/hkNcq2ujmT
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
We've named the bat MERLin (...).
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
He is helping a current project capturing and ringing Nathusius' pipistrelles, so we can learn more about their migratory habits.
Bat populations suffered catastrophic losses up until 1981, but are now heavily protected. Their main enemies are cats, habitat destruction and diminishing food supply of bugs.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
Find out how can you help bats @_bct_: https://t.co/e06ERCtwMN
The latest update on Merlin is that:
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
‘it took him ages to get the hang of self feeding but there’s no stopping him now so he’s put on rather a lot of weight and needs a bit more flying practice before we can release him.
The tubby bugger.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
Thanks for listening to our bat story!
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) 24 February 2019
If you want it in a format that isn't about fifty difficult-to-read tweets, we put it in a blog too: https://t.co/i8pLtYIk3K
Merlin the bat now has his own library card… Dreams do come true!
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