Among the 4 species of bat with the status of “insufficient data” in the IUCN Red List, Great is the noctule, Nyctalus lasiopterus. The Annex 6 the second (and final) Restoration Plan National Bat refers to this species by a single point in France (in Charente) and two points in Corsica. This rarity of the card certainly does not reflect what happens in reality.
For example, between April 2007 and July 2008, I have traveled the North Aveyron and made recordings at different sites (less 15 evenings recordings). Total, Great noctule was recorded on 5 different sites, all spaced at least 4-5 km. Before 2004, when an individual was captured in the center of the department, Great noctule had never been contacted in Aveyron. This strongly suggests that the absence of the species until 2004 was simply due to a lack of exploration or prospecting for inappropriate contact this species. This is also illustrated in the neighboring departments or over the border where 5 years, the species has been contacted on multiple sites in Lozère, Haute-Loire (see’Atlas of Bats of the South) and Cantal (Joel Bec & Jean-François Julien, with. pers.).
The trivialization of devices capable of recording ultrasound has enabled the recent years considerably increase the data collected. It is still important to note that species identification from audio recordings are not always reliable 100%, the cries of a Greater noctule may in fact resemble those of a Hound Cestoni (Tadarida teniotis) (Haquart & Disca, 2007).
Seb.
