I had an unexpected encounter late last night... a neighbour's house alarm triggered and stayed on so I went out to investigate. While I phoned the alarm activation in to the local boys in blue (the owners were out of the house it seemed), I prowled the outside looking for signs of forced entry but there were none.
We had suffered a short power cut in the area for a few seconds about half an hour previously so one neighbour thought perhaps their breakers had tripped, resulting in the alarm triggering onto battery. He said he had a key (but not the alarm code) and would check the consumer unit. While he went off to get the key, a movement caught my eye.
Inside a ground floor conservatory window was a dark object about two inches in length. I had an LED worklight with me so I looked closer. Inside the room behind the blinds was a Pipistrelle bat... inside the house.
There was probably an upstairs window cracked open for ventilation so I called the Police and let them know it was not an incident that needed their attendance. Then it was off to my house for gloves, a bag and something to reach up for it. The owners have a very young girl so there was all the clutter that comes with having a three year old for it to hide in.
I shut it into the kitchen and made two attempts to coax it into the bag to no avail. It took off and moved under things. A Thomas the Tank Engine 4-piece jigsaw puzzle frightened it so much it started flying round the kitchen and flopped down on top of the units. One clear plastic bowl and a "Furry Pets Sticker Book" and it was secured!
Pipistrelles are really small when landed - about an inch wide, an inch and a half long and covered in really fine fur. Tiny little eyes too. They are audible when making chirps. I took it outside and released it.
Adventure over... and when they are back they can close that window!