Hallow'een flyers

I thought it was rather apt on this day that in the UK we used to imagine witches flying through the night sky to some magical place where they would make spells (I am not sure if this is typical of people in the UK but in our household it was!) that I would show you a little video of some very spooky individuals.
These are not blood suckers and they are not magical in any way. These are the fruit bats of the Gold Coast. Often known as Flying Foxes these fruit eating flying mammals can strip a mango tree of ripe fruit in one night and make a mess of most of the almost ripe fruit so they are not exactly welcomed in the home garden nor in the orchards.
Unfortunately for the commercial fruit growers the flying foxes are protected and cannot be shot or trapped or hurt in any way. It is as if the Government values the existance of this pest over the existance of the people who rely on the farmer's produce! One inventive person found that the fruit bats hate the sound of bagpipes and played recorded pipe music through the night - much to the delight of his in-earshot neighbours!
Since returning home from our trip I have noticed that the fruit bats have taken to flying over our home on their way to their feeding grounds. I set the camera up on the back veranda and watched them as long as there was light to see. I took 15 minutes of non stop fly-past and the camera stopped long before the bats stopped flying over.
Here is a little of what I saw.

There is also quite a lot of sound in the early evening as the corella's make a fuss about where to go for the night. The bats are silent as they fly over, they make their noises once they are in the fruit trees. Cicada beetle are the noise of summer - which is fast approaching and the sound of the cars as people hurry home from work.
There is another sound that can be heard. I am not sure if it is someone with a "bird gun" that fires at regular intervals in an attempt to keep the flying foxes away or if it is someone actually taking pot shots.
Enjoy the flying foxes and the evening sounds!
AJ