A tiny bat the size of a human thumb has become the first to be recorded crossing the North Sea from Britain to mainland Europe – before meeting an untimely end in the Netherlands.

 

The lifeless body of the Nathusius’ pipistrelle, which weighs just 7.6g, was discovered in a farmyard fruit-storing shed in the village of Pietersbierum on the north coast of the Netherlands.

 

It died 370 miles from where it was tagged with a “weightless” metal ring 15 months earlier at Blagdon, near Bristol.

 

It is thought that the record-breaking mammal may have died from exhaustion, although it is also possible that it may have been crushed by a fruit pallet.

 

Nathusius’ pipistrelle is one of the species most at risk from land-based wind turbines throughout Europe, and is extremely rare in the UK. Tiny though it is – being typically between 46mm and 55mm in length – it is slightly larger than the more-numerous common and soprano pipistrelles.

 

The fur on its back is longer, giving it a shaggy appearance. It was first recorded on the Shetland Islands in 1940.