Batman

I’m not talking about Heath Ledger’s movie but the flying fox colony in Kew. On a Yarra walk, we came across these large black bats hanging vampire-like from a particular copse of gums on the river bank. This is Melbourne’s famous flying fox colony, controlled by sound signals audible only to them to ensure they ‘home’ every morning in the same copse. They used to live in the Botanical Gardens, but were relocated to the Yarra and controlled by sonar. At 9.07 pm you can see their bat shapes flying overhead as one by one they go on flights of feeding over the city, seeking gumtree nectars. It’s a fascinating sight, and these creatures are far more social and intelligent than possums. You can look up and the silhouette really does look like batman. And everyone in Australia knows that Heath Ledger’s going to win.