Tonight, Jay and I went out for a dusk bat walk in Regent's Park. A genial bat aficionado led nearly 30 of us through a darkening Regent's Park to a lake where we wached for bats. By 9:30 or so we started seeing bats -- and hearing them. Our guide, John Tovey, had handed out portable bat detectors that gave off clicks whenever a bat or bats made an ultrasonic shout.

We saw two species of bat -- the Pipistrelle and Daubenton's bat, which likes to swoop near water to catch insets there. And we learned a lot about bats. For instance, they are not bllind.

Tovey is part of the London Bat Group, which is dedicated to bat conservation.

It was a great experience.