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Bats in the Bourdon


handsoff

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I played for a wedding yesterday in a church where the organ is not used regularly. Whist practising on the previous day I noticed that 3 notes of the short compass pedal Bourdon didn't speak and on opening the tuning notes book to ask for it to be fixed (the organ is tuned annually) saw the pipes had been silenced because bats are roosting in them...

 

 

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I played for a wedding yesterday in a church where the organ is not used regularly. Whist practising on the previous day I noticed that 3 notes of the short compass pedal Bourdon didn't speak and on opening the tuning notes book to ask for it to be fixed (the organ is tuned annually) saw the pipes had been silenced because bats are roosting in them...

 

 

And I'm afraid that you are legally obliged not to disturb them.

 

Let's hope that they don't expand their family and set up home in some other pipes!

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And I'm afraid that you are legally obliged not to disturb them.

 

Let's hope that they don't expand their family and set up home in some other pipes!

 

Are they Pipe-istrelle bats?

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I mentioned it to the churchwarden and he was aware of the responsibilities required with the visitors. There are a few more pipes outside the case that could be used as roosts but I don't think it's much of a problem. The organ is little used and the pedals, being short-compass and offset by around 4 keys (bottom C being about where F would normally be) even less so.

 

I wish that I'd used innate's line - and probably will. Oscar Wilde and Whistler spring to mind!

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It's good to have MM's input and humour on the forum once more... welcome back.

 

That's a great clip of the 12 Days - one stop I noticed on the left hand stop jamb looks fun - Pedal Tutti to Swell.

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