Annie Haycock was the speaker at the November meeting of the Ridgeway History Group (writes R.G.). Her talk was 'Bats in Pembrokeshire' and she began by telling us that bats had a lot to do with history, because they were among the earliest mammals on earth, pre-dating humans by several million years.
Possibly bats suffer from an image problem, but Annie pointed out that their skeleton is basically the same as ours, the wings being in fact, hands.
Pembrokeshire people, always happy to find yet another reason to be proud of their county, were delighted to learn that of the 17 species of bat found in Britain, 14 were living in Pembrokeshire.
Fortunately, we do not have the largest bat in the world, a creature with a wing span of two metres and weighing 1 kg, nor do we have the smallest, the Bumble bee bat, a tiny three centimetres long.
Annie's talk was fascinating and her obvious love of bats has hopefully inspired us to take more interest in them.
Members are reminded that the Christmas Dinner is at the Old Kings Arms in Pembroke on December 3.