My friend Marcella is a great woman for telling a story – you should hear the one about her giving birth in a car beside a bus stop on the N11. The journey from Wexford to Holles Street was simply too long and baby Aoibhin’s welcome party came with an ambulance crew and a few morning commuters. The story is entertaining enough in itself, but the way she tells it makes me belly laugh every time.

So there were shrieks of laughter in the office recently as she recounted the happenings of her weekend. There has been a few warm evenings recently and sure you know, us Irish, we’re not exactly equipped for the heat at night, and sometimes, fresh air is necessary. Marcella’s husband isn’t a fan of the windows open at night though and so, it has become one of those everyday couple quarrels.

On one of those warm nights recently, after their debate on the window status – they were closed – they headed off to sleep. When Aoibhin padded into the room in the middle of the night, it became a case of musical beds – something that parents of young kids are familiar with – and with that dad headed off to the spare room.

“As soon as he was out of the room, I whipped open the windows,” says Marcella, “and myself and Aoibhin were delighted with ourselves and we went back to sleep.”

And so it was warm night in June, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a…..

“I woke to a strange sound,” says Marcella. “I wasn’t sure what it was at first. I opened one eye, then another, and I suddenly realised the sound was very distinctive – it was flapping.

“My heart started racing, I turned on the lamp, and it was then that I realised that the flapping wasn’t a bird. It was small and black and flapping very fast, it was a bat!”

Now, if that were me, I would have grabbed the child and run out of the room roaring for all the world to hear – but most specifically for my husband to sort the problem. But Marcella being a much stronger and more confident woman than myself – and also one that couldn’t lose face in front of her husband about the open window situation – decided to tackle it on her own.

My heart started racing, I turned on the lamp, and it was then that I realised that the flapping wasn’t a bird. It was small and black and flapping very fast, it was a bat!

So there she found herself with a bath towel trying to guide the distressed bat back towards the window. “My heart rate was through the roof, and I was whimpering in distress, trying not to wake the child – and the poor bat wasn’t much better. But with a bit of bath towel guidance, I got him over to the window. I looked down at his little face and furry body, and with a gentle push, he flew back into the night.”

Aoibhin miraculously slept through the whole ordeal but that was the end of sleep for Marcella, and a fan has now been purchased.

So folks, here’s the science part, there are as many as 200,000 bats in Ireland and in the months of May and June, they come out of hibernation. Baby bats are born in June and can get a little confused as they learn to fly, so Marcella’s situation isn’t an isolated case.

If this does happen to you, Bat Conservation Ireland advises using gloves, a mask and a soft cloth or towel to remove a bat. Ideally, leave the room, with the windows open and the lights off so they can make their way out again.

That is, if you don’t have a point to prove to your husband.