tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24572423147529055802024-03-05T15:07:19.938+00:00David's Bat BlogRandom musings about the world of bats and bat-workers from a professional bat ecologist, based in Scotland. Equipment reviews, bat humour, opinion and anything else that occurs to me.
David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-27275429168841112192022-12-01T17:55:00.010+00:002022-12-01T18:06:48.366+00:00A consultant ecologist's creed<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN_G4EuH3XaCP7XMBXPTR478sYfCISXJhrmTIUjwzUr5Oj029BDeFJOi7k_uBVkfAtTGp7ZvXHOZ2ZOngS30YrtFAygdfXQCnNw_ypzGgNfqGZPwo_QBn0JpunFtJ0zFIBJL8QwhzL3hAmIRVUWJCN-MwQ1J0ajRyKdrvOllG_vjgQZwekgo8N2bWwkw/s300/Untitled%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="300" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN_G4EuH3XaCP7XMBXPTR478sYfCISXJhrmTIUjwzUr5Oj029BDeFJOi7k_uBVkfAtTGp7ZvXHOZ2ZOngS30YrtFAygdfXQCnNw_ypzGgNfqGZPwo_QBn0JpunFtJ0zFIBJL8QwhzL3hAmIRVUWJCN-MwQ1J0ajRyKdrvOllG_vjgQZwekgo8N2bWwkw/s1600/Untitled%201.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When I began to consult as an ecologist</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i>Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'll work on a new and original twist</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i>Said I to myself — said I </i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'll never assume that a client with cash</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is a person with whom I never must clash</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Because my new car is expensive and flash</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i> Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ere I survey at sunset I’ll always take care</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i>Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Substandard equipment I never will bear</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i>Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When a bat flutters past and I don’t know where from</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ll not scribble notes with egregious aplomb</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So that licensing work is certain to come</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i> Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I won’t write reports that contort and confuse</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i> Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Or use fifty words when just four I should choose</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i> Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My recommendations shall be honest and true</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Never used to assist my income to accrue</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Even though my bank balance is making me blue</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i> Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Though shag-nasty surveys may seem commonplace</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i>Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'd like to believe I've an honest face</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i> Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I owe to myself and the bats my best work</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Though the dodgier clients may offer me perks</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That kind of behaviour’s the province of jerks</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i> Said I to myself — said I</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style=" font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">With profuse apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan, for
ripping off the Lord Chancellor’s song from “<i>Iolanthe</i>” and to all the
upstanding consultant ecologists who would never dream of such behaviour.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style=" font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If Gilbert and Sullivan are new to you, they wrote
a series of popular Victorian comic operettas which poked fun at the establishment,
in this case the incredibly corrupt legal system of the 1800s (seriously – Victorian
lawyers and judges made Boris Johnson look like an honest little angel). <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwOm5_fUj3w" target="_blank">The Lord Chancellor's song</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><br /></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-25483290930791263062022-05-10T18:39:00.007+01:002022-05-10T18:51:11.623+01:00The bane of bat surveys - that b***dy PIR flood-light!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqOEEnO-BP0QGsqvcQPzbm-UHQOA38wz0vIBNU-ZsvbIORk_q-NH4vwyEy7P2YZ--TRvfEbFuyMQgsb-KwrEwPSbJ4am2Ud_MuHPtM1mdTKhYwjKi4Mk-u0X2t8BQN1-REmg73IuTbWkWGW_2v6eNEIBTZdP_jZG59b388bBxDLbVRuUhisZEMhftd1Q/s359/light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="321" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqOEEnO-BP0QGsqvcQPzbm-UHQOA38wz0vIBNU-ZsvbIORk_q-NH4vwyEy7P2YZ--TRvfEbFuyMQgsb-KwrEwPSbJ4am2Ud_MuHPtM1mdTKhYwjKi4Mk-u0X2t8BQN1-REmg73IuTbWkWGW_2v6eNEIBTZdP_jZG59b388bBxDLbVRuUhisZEMhftd1Q/w358-h400/light.jpg" width="358" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I’m sitting here, very still.</span></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of bats I hope to get my fill.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">But all ain’t well. It isn’t right:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">That bloody PIR flood-light<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bolted there, upon the wall,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s glaring eye stares at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">The owner promised it wouldn’t work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">Now it’s clear he’s a lying jerk.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">If I move a tiny bit,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">All around is brightly lit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bright as any supernova,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">My survey will be truly over.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">So here I sit and curse my lot,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">Want to move, but I cannot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cramp in foot I cannot sate,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">My itchy nose must also wait.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">Frustration grows, no longer care,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">Desperately around I stare.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">I see my answer, my lips I lick,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;">As my eye falls onto a half-brick.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></p><div><br /></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-56337100133984483132022-05-05T11:25:00.000+01:002022-05-05T11:25:08.675+01:00Intermediate bats and Nellie nights<p><span style="font-family: arial;">I love this time of year: the start of the survey season kicks off; the team are fired up and ready to see some bats after so long; new seasonal field ecologists are excited to start their first bat survey season and at last we get to do the surveys which have been stacked up for months, waiting for the start of May.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Perhaps I'm especially enthusiastic, given that these days our team has grown to the point where I can pick and choose which surveys I want to lead and know that the others will be entirely under control, whether I'm there or not.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhM9HeCRdbP3SKGUPB3ZY4MtXOCwsylMIsrM6C5uQWJWLzbGTy7ANDIeGxpRimo8YoxZ5PkJvJ39W9zqYZQwEhVw0lPL7nM9j2z-h6fQpGhD5QoeLbFTrFkAc8Hq53WjieJi15KzAnYi15_yVrInosjWsspi3lM7Em6M49vWfXv5L38IqaBJooqzqANIA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="393" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhM9HeCRdbP3SKGUPB3ZY4MtXOCwsylMIsrM6C5uQWJWLzbGTy7ANDIeGxpRimo8YoxZ5PkJvJ39W9zqYZQwEhVw0lPL7nM9j2z-h6fQpGhD5QoeLbFTrFkAc8Hq53WjieJi15KzAnYi15_yVrInosjWsspi3lM7Em6M49vWfXv5L38IqaBJooqzqANIA=w387-h400" width="387" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">My first survey of this years season was a great site - a lovely converted farm building alongside a nature reserve. A previous survey of an adjacent building had noted that there was a Soprano pipistrelle maternity roost at the south-facing wall-head, so it was already promising.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Just as exciting was that the survey was a "Nellie night". Three shiny new field ecologists, having completed their theoretical and practical training were there for the final stage of their training, where they complete their first actual survey with one-to-one supervision and guidance from one of our experienced people. In the 21st century business world this would be called shadowing, but I rather like the old-fashioned name for it: "sitting next to Nellie". There's nothing quite like seeing the sheer pleasure an early career ecologist gets from putting their training into use for the first time and recording useful bat survey data.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I pointed out the bat droppings under the known maternity site, on the ground, sticking to the wall and on a window-ledge and gave the team a warning. The start of May is a fascinating period, when bat roosting activity is fluid and the greater clarity of roost use we tend to see in the summer hasn't started yet. Just because we know where the maternity site is doesn't mean that that is where the majority of the bats will emerge from - the maternity group probably won't have fully coalesced yet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I do like it when bats do what I say they're likely to do - so often the gods of bat-work overhear me and take their vengence by ensuring something totally different happens. On this night however, the Sopranos behaved very nicely. In all 175 bats emerged from the building during the survey, 99 from the known maternity site and the remainder in groups of up to 13 from a dozen other roost locations around the building. Classic spring intermediate roosting - a great learning experience for the Nellie-nighters and it will be interesting for them to compare results later in the season with this survey.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There was another early season bonus too. As temperatures tend to drop fairly rapidly after sunset this early in the year, the foraging period is often short and the result of this was that some of the nellie-nighters were able to observe swarming behaviour, as some of the bats returned to the roosts before the end of the sunset survey.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">All in all, a really nice survey, but for me the best bit came at the very end, as equipment was being packed away. I'm a strong believer in hiring clever, capable people and empowering them to get on with it, trusting them to make good decisions and telling them not to allow me to micro-manage them. Noticing the contents of one of the survey kits wasn't properly packed away yet I leaned over to deal with it, only to be headed off by one of our brilliant assistant ecologists, who already had the matter in hand. When the team feel sufficently confident to shoo the boss away, with a stern "get away", then I reckon we're getting things about right!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-56659898981684067572022-04-14T16:08:00.001+01:002022-04-14T16:08:18.377+01:00Freelance ecology - the money game<span style="font-family: arial;">With increasing numbers of ecologists breaking free of the large employers and setting up on their own it’s worth exploring some of the challenges they will face. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">I recently wrote about some of those challenges (</span><a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/07/setting-up-on-your-own-ecology-business.html" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Setting up on your own - the ecology business</a><span style="font-family: arial;">) and I thought it would be worth considering a particularly thorny problem for many freelancers - it’s hard enough to find work, but getting clients to cough up payment this side of hell freezing over can be a real challenge. </span><div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Cash-flow is everything in business. You can be massively busy and owed loads of money, but if it's all outstanding, you can't pay your bills and many small businesses are killed off by cash-flow problems. In my early days I had a torrid couple of months when I really struggled to pay bills, yet was owed about £40,000.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYtRMo-biQbSuR77EPz5C0LqP4jcpAWbCjM1X4Wc1kdkOLcOrNV8aeBDBAitraxqgjbgrGVro1HClWmRMc--ZLplirXz_F8gK9tPRnXnQgxr9v_nTTP46H7x6ivh9ofJmexaVqlbP68yVe4m6k1nuJpJeqp4pW4yLdKuyP7GqoA7CYoZJM6YWwJDYz_g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="691" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYtRMo-biQbSuR77EPz5C0LqP4jcpAWbCjM1X4Wc1kdkOLcOrNV8aeBDBAitraxqgjbgrGVro1HClWmRMc--ZLplirXz_F8gK9tPRnXnQgxr9v_nTTP46H7x6ivh9ofJmexaVqlbP68yVe4m6k1nuJpJeqp4pW4yLdKuyP7GqoA7CYoZJM6YWwJDYz_g=w400-h309" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">It seems straightforward enough, doesn't it? You do an honest piece of good quality ecology work, you send the client an invoice and within 28 days they send you payment. Simples! Oh, that it were so! There are people out there who firmly believe that your entitlement to be paid is correlated with the amount of effort you put into persuading them to pay. Much as I would love for them to be hit by lightning, it isn't going to happen, so we need some tactics.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In James Herriot's "All Creatures Great and Small" books James' boss, Siegfried Farnon deployed his "PNS" system, to persuade Dales farmers to pay up. P for polite, N for nasty and S for solicitors. From what I recall, it wasn't very effective, but the idea of gradually ramping up the pressure makes sense and works for me.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The first thing is to know your enemy. Who are you dealing with? Mrs Miggins, having an extension put up might just have lost your invoice in the heap of stuff on her kitchen table and a friendly, gentle reminder may well do the job. Most individuals and small businesses who play fast and loose can usually be brought to heel with a sharply-worded letter, threatening the small claims court. I also have a big rubber stamp with "PAYMENT OVERDUE", which works wonders, especially when used in red on the outside of the envelope, but be aware that this type of tactic may embarrass the client into paying, but may also make them reluctant to come back.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Mid-sized developers, or anyone else who also needs people to pay their bills to keep their cash-flow healthy are generally reasonable at paying up. The advantage of this size of business is that the person you dealt with might not be responsible for paying you, but they know who is and are able to apply influence on your behalf if you ask nicely.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The nightmare scenario for my business tends to be the massive organisations - the big PLCs, local authorities etc (though with some notable exceptions, who have discovered consciences). Many of these organisations now have a genuine policy of delaying payments for as long as possible, to bolster their own financial situation. 28 days? Three months is often as good as you'll get and much worse is common. One local authority we work for habitually pay after six months. Happily very few now play the "very slowly posted cheque" game, which tended to mean that payment took an extra 1-2 weeks to reach your bank account. Instead they appear to use two nefarious tactics. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">One of these is for the accounts department to be virtually uncontactable. "We accept calls between 09:30 and 11:00 on Mondays and Thursdays" is not uncommon (they're invariably engaged). Emails of course don't get answered, making it virtually impossible to get hold of someone who can fix the problem, which is what they want. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The second tactic used is the "we need to set you up as a supplier" game, with increasingly loopy time-wasting requirements, dressed up as due diligence. Asking for insurance certificates is reasonable, but demanding a copy of your policy on Patagonian Narwhal protection seems to be the way they're heading. I maintain a large folder with PDFs of every possible thing they might ask for (there's about 40 documents in it and it's steadily growing). The ones who annoy me most get the whole damn lot as a massive zip file.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So how do you get past the financial Rottweilers whose job it is to avoid paying you? The first thing to understand is that they probably don't know the person who commissions work from you, are in a different office and probably a different county. So you can be (politely) aggressive, without fear of losing future work. The next thing is to accept that wearing them down is your best tactic - email them frequently, write to them often and when you have a spare five minutes, pick one or two to phone. The more you hassle them, the more you move up their payment list. I've also had a lot of success from hunting down someone very senior in the organisation (Google and LinkedIn are your friends) and contacting them direct, asking them to help. They are often appalled to discover that the money-wonks in the basement are treating people in this way.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Work out who the bad guys are and plan ahead. Add 10% to your fee bids for them, to cover the time you'll waste extracting payment. Make sure your terms and conditions include the right to charge interest on overdue payments. You could even ask for payment up front, but that's a great way to lose work.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">There are companies out there who can help your cash flow by taking over your invoices and chasing them for you, paying you immediately. But this service comes at a cost. You might think it's worth it. I don't. A former accountant of ours suggested offering a 10% discount for invoices paid within seven days. Sadly, the only people who took us up on it were the ones who would have paid promptly anyway, so I don't recommend that!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Your final resort of course is the small claims court, which can be very effective, but it's time-consuming. It's also expensive, if the client turns out to be broke. I've only ever used it twice. In both cases they paid up before the case came to court, so now I threaten the court vigourously, deploying it's reputation, but not it's process. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If all else fails try </span><span style="font-family: arial;">s</span><span style="font-family: arial;">howing up on the doorstep, especially if you have that wild-eyed "just back from a dawn survey and still got bat droppings in my hair" look. If that doesn't scare them into paying up, nothing will!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-28687186005257190622022-04-03T21:05:00.000+01:002022-04-03T21:05:03.525+01:00What does the future hold for bat groups?<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Like many licensed bat-workers, my journey commenced with membership of a local bat group. I was lucky enough to also get involved with a couple of research projects, which expanded my opportunities, but many of my earliest experiences with bats were gained by helping Lothians Bat Group with things like bat box checks, roost counts and hibernation surveys.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2zZdjXDmYVNtSiMMWMc8R40eBd25chz1uvbjThJRKAa2bTK5gEmXZSOnohQiBK9X0lIRTFXBJmRIesOB4fc--0wNSdoVEauIhZ-rwejqE5i_hSw_SagHxhMkH_-iMTuPRLeO5GaiFQP34pZ4rugQxoCQJ9ZrT5kSO9wGtsTHxDilupnw3XLIyOx42Q/s1600/Photo-0086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2zZdjXDmYVNtSiMMWMc8R40eBd25chz1uvbjThJRKAa2bTK5gEmXZSOnohQiBK9X0lIRTFXBJmRIesOB4fc--0wNSdoVEauIhZ-rwejqE5i_hSw_SagHxhMkH_-iMTuPRLeO5GaiFQP34pZ4rugQxoCQJ9ZrT5kSO9wGtsTHxDilupnw3XLIyOx42Q/w400-h300/Photo-0086.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>A group of delightfully mad Lothians Bat Group members, helping to convert a WW2 bunker into a hibernaculum.</i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Bat groups have long been at the heart of bat conservation: local groups of like-minded people, coming together to devote time to monitoring and conserving bats, to encouraging the public to understand and care about them and of course, to training new bat-workers and giving them opportunities to work towards their own licenses.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Success for bat groups has always been a hit or miss affair. Like most voluntary groups, it all depends on having enough people who want to put in as well as to take out; on people with organisation and leadership skills and most of all, on people who can spare some of that precious commodity, <b>time</b>. Groups need committees of people, able to work together to arrange events, drive the group forward and inspire others to take part. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When I was first actively involved Lothians Bat Group had the benefit of Dr. Stuart Smith, who ran the group as a sort of benign dicatorship. Stuart was a great combination of encouraging mentor and organisational demon, so much so that everyone was happy with the status quo and things went swimmingly, until Stuart retired and moved away. Happily, the group is still active, unlike in some areas, where groups have folded. Like so many voluntary groups we have a committee of <b>very busy people.</b> We all have lots of other commitments: family, children, work etc and inevitably the bat group has to take it's turn. I suspect we all feel slightly guilty for not doing more, but there are only so many hours in the day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Many of us who hold bat licenses also work in conservation and consultancy and, let's be honest, you have to be phenomenally keen to spend five days a week working with bats and still be willing to go out and do voluntary bat work. Many of us do it, but when I think back to how much more voluntary bat-work I did before I worked in the field it's quite thought-provoking.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In rural areas it is even harder, as human populations are more thinly spread and greater travel is necessary to meet. In one region I've been involved in, the same faces were committee members of the local amphibian and reptile group, bat group and badger group, further diluting the available time and effort available to each group. Good on them for keeping the flags flying though!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I have a sense that bat groups today are not as active as they were a decade or more ago (I hope I'm wrong) and that is very worrying. <a href="http://www.bats.org.uk" target="_blank">The Bat Conservation Trust</a> are active in encouraging and supporting people to set up new groups and in running projects intended to raise awareness and encourage the creation and development of bat groups. Here in Scotland we have had a series of highly active <a href="https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/in-scotland" target="_blank">Scottish Bat Officers,</a> funded by NatureScot, who have done some superb work.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So what's the answer? Bat groups are </span><b style="font-family: arial;">essential</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> to successful conservation. If we don't have gangs of enthusiastic bat-fanatics manning stalls at events, leading bat walks and helping roost owners and if we don't ensure that the next generation of these members are being inspired and trained, who will take up the slack? The SNCOs don't even have proper funding for their core roles. The NGOs never recovered financially from the last recession and we may be heading for another.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It seems to me that the only way forward is for everyone who cares about bats to do what they can, to contribute where they're able: even the smallest contribution of time and effort is nonetheless a contribution. Perhaps in this 21st century world, when our lives are increasingly time-squeezed, there needs to be bigger committees of people taking on smaller roles within a group? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Or perhaps someone in south-west England (where he now lives) could hunt down Stuart and clone him for us? Lots of him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-16347521007808356152022-03-19T13:41:00.009+00:002022-03-19T13:47:58.726+00:00To hell with birdies, I want BATS!<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjd8VF8TY1uwlJEEWBXH4XRhSExGDTYDZHpIvKAm5wBukjz_92eVmfUguj-wxPsO1_QhYrf0feP1PFiRUtxmECzkdz1j_gdMsp8F7iBOenZc24KEx2Am1I5tign5HjtiXrOa5IIzVkxMyMz38kpIEe2annGJU1BloYdMi9HdeB31bVaRDpPvUHB4EmaYw=s466" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="466" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjd8VF8TY1uwlJEEWBXH4XRhSExGDTYDZHpIvKAm5wBukjz_92eVmfUguj-wxPsO1_QhYrf0feP1PFiRUtxmECzkdz1j_gdMsp8F7iBOenZc24KEx2Am1I5tign5HjtiXrOa5IIzVkxMyMz38kpIEe2annGJU1BloYdMi9HdeB31bVaRDpPvUHB4EmaYw=w400-h345" width="400" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px;">Spring has sprung, the grass is riz,<br /></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px;">I wonder where the birdies is?<br /></span><span class="s1">Cancel that - I don’t care,<br /></span><span class="s1">But when will bats take to the air?</span></span></div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve hugged the fire and shivered lots,<br /></span></span><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve had enough - I want some hot.</span></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">And when it comes, what I want most</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is wakeful bats - not one, a host!</span></span></div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">All this tweeting is quite nice,</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">But I’ll ignore it in a trice.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s chips and chops I really like,</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hollow claps, clicks and suchlike.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">My detectors polished til it gleams,</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">Batteries are charged, ready it seems.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">‘Tis patience I am really short of,</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">I need some bats, to adore and love.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, don’t keep me waiting, little bat,</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">‘Tis time to make your belly fat.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ll wait no more, I can’t, I vow,</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;">So shift your butt and fly right now. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></span></span></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-86692942302261142402022-03-08T22:12:00.000+00:002022-03-08T22:12:01.311+00:00Driving to bat surveys - don't risk becoming a killer<p><span style="font-family: arial;">On 28 February 2001 Gary Hart was driving in the dark on the M62 motorway when he lost control of his vehicle. Later investigations revealed he was sleep-deprived and failed to apply the brakes. The car and it's trailer careered down the embankment onto the East Coast main railway line, where it was struck by an InterCity 225 train. Ten people died in the ensuing carnage and 82 were seriously injured. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJg_a-E_kUc9jJ2xyfVS76CwjA5GrouR2sFuEpLdSaP-JeSuQLje5LnXQ-SwwAU9ceaN1CeBz-bVZsk3I4gKdf85Qx3btdZEDV8DXLW--rJc805Ro9yXfrNY-r7Iw533YLa37oc6WcZX0Iyzgm7ntfoktCLqbm-JNGdgXfw42pGxwPX0xi9D7CK2km8g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="425" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJg_a-E_kUc9jJ2xyfVS76CwjA5GrouR2sFuEpLdSaP-JeSuQLje5LnXQ-SwwAU9ceaN1CeBz-bVZsk3I4gKdf85Qx3btdZEDV8DXLW--rJc805Ro9yXfrNY-r7Iw533YLa37oc6WcZX0Iyzgm7ntfoktCLqbm-JNGdgXfw42pGxwPX0xi9D7CK2km8g" width="320" /></a></b></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Every year I hear stories from people who work in <b>those </b>consultancies (you know the ones I mean). They describe doing back to back sunset and dawn bat surveys, day after day, often with long journeys between and I can't help thinking of Gary Hart. He was sentenced to jail for five years, but I suspect a much bigger punishment for him was the knowledge of ten lives lost and 82 more whose lives were changed forever.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Selby was clearly exacerbated by circumstances, but imagine a head-on collision at 60mph. With a closing speed of 120mph it's entirely possible that you, your passengers and the family of five in the other car would all die or suffer life-changing injuries. <b>And it would only take a moment's inattention.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">With the new survey season approaching I thought it might be time to share a few thoughts on ways to limit the risks associated with driving to and from bat surveys at night, so here are my top ten suggestions. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">1. Get to know what your level of tolerance is for fatigue and stay well inside it. How will you recognise when your abilities are impaired? You need to know. Be aware that your tolerance for fatigue decreases with age - I'm 56 and I can see a noticeable difference between now and a decade ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">2. Heroes are those who save lives by being sensible. Pushing yourself beyond your limits to get that one last piece of survey work completed doesn't make you a hero - it definitely makes you the other thing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">3. Plan your workload and your sleep patterns. Within our team we avoid back to back sunset/dawn surveys like the plague and our full-timers are encouraged to take time off during the day to rest and ensure they are fresh when they need to be.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">4. If you're under pressure to go beyond sensible limits you need to think carefully about what your options are, but you <b>must </b>address the issue. Dont fall into the trap of thinking it'll be fine, because one day it won't.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">5. Do everything you can to keep your mind active whilst driving. I use talking books from Audible to help me stay alert - listening and thinking about what I'm hearing keep my brain fully functional. Music may help some people, but I worry that rhythmic sounds may be counter-productive.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">6. If you have passengers in the car, get them to help. The best person ever for this (she knows who she is) was a member of our team who could sit in the front passenger seat and talk continuously and animatedly for two hours about her pet ferrets, horse-riding, pole-dancing, her various part-time jobs and heaven knows what else - it was impossible to doze off with that going on!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWpsvswlOjiJ5v-MIYNd48zJ6xY_LVG1FP60H6oCLKwI-Q_zqd-gmMIjswMWeupYfA66_5JvoJZiCWjNEN5vPeHdch-W2M0gfS37xUjkrCm5XZLl4JCIG3sJOHlJx5g8T9q59epZoeyG2fLW_WzwCF-yoiien8wNdrdHtr-JBlIQzDljUQhJ0GJo0VVA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWpsvswlOjiJ5v-MIYNd48zJ6xY_LVG1FP60H6oCLKwI-Q_zqd-gmMIjswMWeupYfA66_5JvoJZiCWjNEN5vPeHdch-W2M0gfS37xUjkrCm5XZLl4JCIG3sJOHlJx5g8T9q59epZoeyG2fLW_WzwCF-yoiien8wNdrdHtr-JBlIQzDljUQhJ0GJo0VVA=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The aftermath of the Selby crash, caused by a sleep-deprived car driver.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>(Photo credit: Yorkshire Live)</i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">7. I hope your car's fully serviced. with good tyres etc, but there are things you can do to reduce your workload. Make sure your windscreen is clean - bugs, smears etc are much more obvious in the headlights and peering through a murky wind-screen is not going to help you.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">8. Are your headlights clean? It is gob-smacking how much less effective they are with even a thin layer of traffic film. I use my headlight washers at least once every journey. If your car doesn't have washers then carry a wet cloth in a bag and wipe them before setting off in the dark. The more forward illumination you have the easier it is to focus on driving safely.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">9. You're in a hurry to get home - aren't we all, when it's 2am and a warm bed is calling? You know what I'm going to say - drive to the road conditions and resist that massive temptation to put your foot to the floor, especially on winding country roads.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">10. If you recognise that you're fatigued, whatever you do, don't press on regardless. I find power naps suprisingly effective. Recline your seat and set an alarm for 20 minutes (no more than that or you risk going into a deep sleep and waking up more tired than you started). Close your eyes and empty your mind. If that doesn't work then it's time to accept that you've got it wrong and either dig out the sleeping bag or find the nearest Travelodge.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Please don't think this is a definitive guide - I'm not a sleep expert or an advanced driving instructor. But we work in an industry that tends to overlook this issue or worse, treat it as a macho thing. And that's just plain stupid.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-30021661780652634922022-01-05T14:38:00.002+00:002022-01-05T17:42:48.400+00:00Getting into ecology - guest blog<p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Izzy McQuillan is a graduate ecologist at WSP, with a knack for communication. She recently condensed her experiences of gaining her first steps onto the ladder of professional ecology into a </span></i><i><span style="font-family: arial;">series of LinkedIn posts. They are </span></i><i><span style="font-family: arial;">solid gold advice for </span><span style="font-family: arial;">anyone looking to follow in her footsteps and </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Izzy has kindly combined them into a guest blog for </span><b style="font-family: arial;">David's Bat Blog</b><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQOEVZQwFVb_NlvuBkt9tW3UiGS-A1-9zC5IZ69KEVkEnV95WzbJUQ4C119ltBCXzw1dUzPCe4lyRDW5NIT6XIzArbnAqMXyftfyUTQbiA73mH8EkIEM_DxvmrLTbmRRImbUbw0uOyE0dt/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQOEVZQwFVb_NlvuBkt9tW3UiGS-A1-9zC5IZ69KEVkEnV95WzbJUQ4C119ltBCXzw1dUzPCe4lyRDW5NIT6XIzArbnAqMXyftfyUTQbiA73mH8EkIEM_DxvmrLTbmRRImbUbw0uOyE0dt/w320-h320/image.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">So this time last year, I saw my job role advertised on Linkedin and decided to take the plunge and apply.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />I thought it would be useful to target some posts at current students, recent graduates and anyone trying to 'break' into ecology. There are a few useful tips that I wish I had known in my final year, or during my job search.</span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3krO3btJnQt1Z1nDdD93dVD-FcJCK8heEmLQNirrkjffqzQmTTCHb8KscopfrCMtyvxtixScaCZPl2kLFhEg0lmopMSgxDdgCjeF0GMTUIPnbH6Y4gJ20GOqzJmwEZedvWfkCK6ujQC7/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3krO3btJnQt1Z1nDdD93dVD-FcJCK8heEmLQNirrkjffqzQmTTCHb8KscopfrCMtyvxtixScaCZPl2kLFhEg0lmopMSgxDdgCjeF0GMTUIPnbH6Y4gJ20GOqzJmwEZedvWfkCK6ujQC7/w200-h200/image.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;">Want to become an ecologist?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">First point...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">You need to be able to drive. Preferably with your own car, but having a full-clean licence is the main point which might be tripping up your application.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Also, having survey experience is essential.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I would say, it makes the most sense to focus on bats, if you are looking for a seasonal position. If you have on your cv that you have assisted on dusk/dawn bat surveys, and know how to use a heterodyne bat detector, you are showing you can step into the business and start helping straight away, it makes you a useful asset.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Otherwise, gaining botanical i.d skills and GIS skills will also greatly benefit you. Phase 1 surveys, hedgerow surveys and preliminary bat surveys of trees could make up a lot of your day work, meaning having a grasp of common botanical species will be extremely useful. Understanding GIS will also put you ahead, being able to create a red line site boundary or Phase 1 map will help make you essential in the team. It seems in consultancy, Arc is the one to focus on, but QGIS is free and you can still get these tasks done on Q (I use Q, and am hoping to get my head around Arc this winter).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I wish I had known this, as no one told me this during my degree.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So, here is a big list of useful courses, both free and paid that will hopefully help you feel prepared and ready for the upcoming season!!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">🦇Free- Volunteer and join with your local bat group!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For Manchester this is the South Lancashire Bat group</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Facebook:https://lnkd.in/eGS7u4Yi</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Website: http://www.slbg.org.uk/</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">🦇Paid- I am enrolled on BatAbility, the classes have been excellent and there are weekly videos, you can also access all of the past recordings, getting up to speed with everything bat related!!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">https://lnkd.in/e_ahR9uy</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">🦡Free-Useful free Field Studies Council (FSC) Youtube videos:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Mammal tracks- https://lnkd.in/eFqMb_7W</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Hazel dormice- https://lnkd.in/e5-Waj4r</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Water voles-https://lnkd.in/ec_hwxyd</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Paid (subsidised)- I attended several FSC courses prior to getting my role (biological recording, phase 1, QGIS) , and I think this is what gave me the edge with my application. There are funding opportunities for those aged 18-25 which means you can access scholarships through Generation Green in England.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">https://lnkd.in/et3SV3Xt</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">🌱Free- Botanically, I would suggest going out into the wilderness and using an i.d app such as Google lens or Plant net and then getting your head around the species you see around you!</span></div><div><br /></div></div><div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRk-7fx4An0v6nHQtCHX_oTutv93frE8Pcgz4-_dmIPCnjMc2Z2KJ4ZsM91eaBLkh7l1z2rTvzD8tKlkCfeWmLB0ab8Xt1cbnIcF81INU6m6pa-qb5U1T9YJTL7S_bXkb8BX5oFyFZlMoV/" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRk-7fx4An0v6nHQtCHX_oTutv93frE8Pcgz4-_dmIPCnjMc2Z2KJ4ZsM91eaBLkh7l1z2rTvzD8tKlkCfeWmLB0ab8Xt1cbnIcF81INU6m6pa-qb5U1T9YJTL7S_bXkb8BX5oFyFZlMoV/w200-h200/image.png" width="200" /></a></p></div><div><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901960784313726)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Fira Sans, Ubuntu, Oxygen, Oxygen Sans, Cantarell, Droid Sans, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Lucida Grande, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Do you use Linkedin?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">OR... are you lurkering around, liking but never posting.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Has your university careers service told you to start using Linkedin but you have no idea what to do?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I was in this position in 2019. I wasn't sure what to do!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">But, both of my last two consultancy roles I have found through Linkedin.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Top tips-</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">⭐Research and find companies you would like to work for. Look at the employees who work at your desired office and send connection requests. You are more likely to see if these offices are hiring as these people will be the people posting the roles you might want.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">⭐Post! If you are nervous, start by re-sharing content. This gets your name out, and potential employers might recognise you, making you more likely to get the interview.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">⭐Leading on from my last point, create content. This is the best way of getting your name out and noticed. I use Canva, it is free and there are lots of tutorials on Youtube. In a perfect world, posting 3 times a week is best, most people don't post that frequently. A way of hitting these targets is using scheduling websites, such as Hootsuite or buffer.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">⭐Engage! Comment, like and engage with content created by people on your network.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">⭐Use emojis as bullet points and line breaks, they will make your posts more visually appealing.</span></div><div><br /></div></span></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwDQkRgSkQaOMMkI0oY3F5hv3DgjE9_EHQVnu5aPq3lqcqiDNfU6QqPO4KxLJoEqNSJsIkq7qW4yMGD4xY4JgKYk1sxOaXPg9Amf-lebeC7234ZnEiPmrx8U0Pd_AweEHHrdpba4z1eKBD/" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwDQkRgSkQaOMMkI0oY3F5hv3DgjE9_EHQVnu5aPq3lqcqiDNfU6QqPO4KxLJoEqNSJsIkq7qW4yMGD4xY4JgKYk1sxOaXPg9Amf-lebeC7234ZnEiPmrx8U0Pd_AweEHHrdpba4z1eKBD/w200-h200/image.png" width="200" /></a><p><span style="font-family: arial;">How much have you thought about your CV before popping it at the end of your application...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Following the application, where you have to fill in several boxes on 'How you align with the company ethics' and 'What skills do you have that make you suitable for this role', often you can overlook your CV and cover letter, when it fact, it could be the reason you are being overlooked yourself.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Some companies filter through job applications just looking at the cover letter, if you just have a few lines, your job application is going to get rejected.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So, some tips for your application from someone who has applied for lots and lots of jobs...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">⭐Have you recently left university? Make use of their careers service, I went to the University of Manchester and we had 2 years post graduation to make use of the service. Get your CV checked, have a mock interview, speak to them about potential companies you should target.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">⭐ Tailor your application. Make sure your CV is relevant to the job you are applying for, look at the words used in the advert and translocate these into your CV. Answer the points in the advert 'Must show excellent team-working skills'- use STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Response) and show HOW you have developed these skills. Problems I have seen with some graduate CVs is that they have one line about their degree. You've spent years, and thousands of pounds on your degree, make it work! Use bullet points and make everything cohesive, clear and accessible.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">⭐The cover letter. What have you put in it? I was following the University career services guide on what to put in my cover letter, and it was actually causing me issues applying for ecology roles!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The format I previously followed was Paragraph 1- Where I had found the job, 2- What I know about the company and why I am suitable to work with the company, 3-Why I was suitable for the role. Then I changed my cover letter and I got an interview for my current role. As survey skills are so important in ecology, if your cover letter is missing these points, you won't be selected. In your opening paragraph, mention the experience I have mentioned previously is so important. Bullet point these skills. For example:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">'Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my application. I have found XXX role advertised XXX. I am extremely keen to secure my first ecology role, as such I have recently developed skills in:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">🦇Bat call sound analysis, using Kaleidoscope.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">🗺️GIS skills, including the production of red line boundaries and Phase 1 maps on QGIS.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">🌱Botanical skills, including identification of common hedge species such as Hawthorne, blackthorn and woodland indicator species such as Lords-and-ladies.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">(All the above are free skills you can develop over the winter in order to be prepared for the upcoming ecological season)</span></p><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901960784313726)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Fira Sans, Ubuntu, Oxygen, Oxygen Sans, Cantarell, Droid Sans, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Lucida Grande, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAKPL-yZlm2cL4oeMhCtgcHuvcUdsH7woLa9rlMGq8hy73C02lDTtZDaaCJgy9dWKE_67PwiQfutrhATSIYC0ih14Gk0G0PuM4qb_f3kXQczOqp7on7sivkGW8GRTR4tjVWDXWn2lO-NqD/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAKPL-yZlm2cL4oeMhCtgcHuvcUdsH7woLa9rlMGq8hy73C02lDTtZDaaCJgy9dWKE_67PwiQfutrhATSIYC0ih14Gk0G0PuM4qb_f3kXQczOqp7on7sivkGW8GRTR4tjVWDXWn2lO-NqD/w200-h200/image.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So you're on Linkedin, you've found a role and company you want to work for and you've tailored your CV, now what?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">How do you ensure you apply and can secure an interview?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Applying for roles can honestly feel like a job in itself. Each application can take hours; ensure you shift through the roles appropriately and allocate a few hours for the initial application. With consultancy, you will also likely have a skills based test post-interview which is still a part of your application.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Prior to my first graduate consultancy role, I was asked to produce a desk study of a site. Be prepared for this additional assessment when you put in your application. I was given a week to produce this report. During this week I was working full-time and it was also my birthday so I had to allocate time appropriately in order to ensure I didn't miss this role with a poor application. I visited the site in question, conducting a site walkover in addition to the desk study, this strengthened my report and impressed my future bosses. I secured the role.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">During my ecology interview, I had a species test. I would say this is quite common within ecology. As a seasonal this should be common species you might see out on site (tracks or species images). Be prepared for this, have a research on Linkedin seeing what your potential future colleagues might share around species, you might be pointed in the right direction on what they might test you on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">And my last piece of advice?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Be yourself!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Remain professional but don't hide parts of your personality in order to 'fit in'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If you are pretending to be someone you are not in order to secure this role, you will not feel comfortable at work. If you get rejected for being yourself, it isn't the end of the world. You are one step closer to finding a team that is perfect for you!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Don't be dis-heartened, I applied for so many roles over the years. I'd come close, had interviews but never got past that stage until 2020. Hopefully, these ideas help you.</span></p><div><br /></div><p><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901960784313726)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Fira Sans, Ubuntu, Oxygen, Oxygen Sans, Cantarell, Droid Sans, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Lucida Grande, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901960784313726)"></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a><br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: inherit;" /><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901960784313726)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Fira Sans, Ubuntu, Oxygen, Oxygen Sans, Cantarell, Droid Sans, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Lucida Grande, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901960784313726)"><br /></span><br /></span><br /><p></p></div></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-83358645286273199522021-12-16T12:56:00.001+00:002021-12-16T13:02:21.891+00:00A new invasive species invading homes at Xmas<p><span style="font-family: arial;">It's winter, when professional ecologists use the down-time to refresh and update our knowledge. This Christmas a new and invidious invasive species is invading our homes and spreading rapidly, so here I present an important guide to the ecology of this worrying species. I am of course speaking about the Lindt chocolate teddy-bear.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZgKVIjelvFj2JrlaVh44q2RkDIXCUKc5bhyphenhyphenjS-2WA7oxzl5f46yJZzVrmAaDeVout7NkJMl7Ol__bECrxgGdsoNk6McXgmP783j8nDS3YGIPMCjgRgMqk60lRqfWuIMApjvAs0gpaU5AA/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="1504" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZgKVIjelvFj2JrlaVh44q2RkDIXCUKc5bhyphenhyphenjS-2WA7oxzl5f46yJZzVrmAaDeVout7NkJMl7Ol__bECrxgGdsoNk6McXgmP783j8nDS3YGIPMCjgRgMqk60lRqfWuIMApjvAs0gpaU5AA/w400-h299/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial;">This dangerous invasive is native to the Zurich area of Switzerland, but, like Chinese mitten crabs, skunk cabbage and white-clawed crayfish, human actions have brought them to this country and they are spreading rapidly...dangerously so.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It has been said that we are never more than 6 feet away from a rat. Whilst this is an urban myth, it is possible that Lindt chcololate teddy populations may be growing to the point where it may be true of them. Every day my wife Rona has to spend time searching the house, removing many teddies from their hiding places around the house. Individually they may be cute, but in large numbers their thousand-yard stare becomes alarming and threatening, especially as nobody knows exactly what they are plotting.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMe_-bjzKS_gT1NYDdlVgLGgeWGnaNxNTqolGU1zhNyAiPQNBWbnq7Li6hfCaKowN0p9eDKskzsmSnsbjHw1FUMu3UrfdBeh57G5zsMqyC4ULXGUHZrYdUrlPx78U4CmuKYRuan8pXCq-/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="1605" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMe_-bjzKS_gT1NYDdlVgLGgeWGnaNxNTqolGU1zhNyAiPQNBWbnq7Li6hfCaKowN0p9eDKskzsmSnsbjHw1FUMu3UrfdBeh57G5zsMqyC4ULXGUHZrYdUrlPx78U4CmuKYRuan8pXCq-/w640-h214/image.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />What is particularly worrying is the large gaps in our understanding of chocolate teddy ecology. For example, we know little about their diet and where they gain the resources required to support their unusually rapid reproduction. However, there have been sightings of packs of teddies slaying Lindt chocolate reindeer and feasting on them.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHfWzj9TvhcDGt8lkCyXkyXH9q0_tXzm4xPj7Wzwh1BTsdQcOT2wYlmFFTUIIWi76FvbdYWGJKmNd4gR46gkb9GyE78vxFpJVxJ4wLXO22Z_vxnSRCKGdfPwId3J97NVWZbyMPYb67VjW/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHfWzj9TvhcDGt8lkCyXkyXH9q0_tXzm4xPj7Wzwh1BTsdQcOT2wYlmFFTUIIWi76FvbdYWGJKmNd4gR46gkb9GyE78vxFpJVxJ4wLXO22Z_vxnSRCKGdfPwId3J97NVWZbyMPYb67VjW/w400-h225/Teddy+parliament.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">The social structure of a teddy colony is complex and unusual, with possible parallels to ant or wasp colonies. As well as being found as individuals, teddies are sometimes found in groups.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnALusvu9_qaLCrelwtpD6qts_wxaLcH1SAJ2qHLQAB10lt8dgGffrYzHoSBAqvIaCdbGJJo1a1heHySN04PBzSbobuS-LAcbEC4b6Tn5wvPX49Kd7WpkeqWWZF8o6Ax84tw4PLxbzWjT/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnALusvu9_qaLCrelwtpD6qts_wxaLcH1SAJ2qHLQAB10lt8dgGffrYzHoSBAqvIaCdbGJJo1a1heHySN04PBzSbobuS-LAcbEC4b6Tn5wvPX49Kd7WpkeqWWZF8o6Ax84tw4PLxbzWjT/w400-h225/Teddy+army.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">There have been very occasional sightings of large accumulations of teddies engaging in mass communication of some kind, with giant queen teddies at the centre of the colony. It is believed that these mass meetings lead to mass dispersal, with teddies hiding around the house, watching and waiting for something. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-lKH5cRx-MI6gDTtBfC7XoTbq3Smd_svANWE6NE1LFMrPchaXT8yZQbmLUNI_vzW3X078JHHdiQkH2mi_kuhw7jr7FbGdmbiCk7rtN8NzCkKN3mp4fdxbxhiO7DhhWUOkd6fOf1cg_iL/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-lKH5cRx-MI6gDTtBfC7XoTbq3Smd_svANWE6NE1LFMrPchaXT8yZQbmLUNI_vzW3X078JHHdiQkH2mi_kuhw7jr7FbGdmbiCk7rtN8NzCkKN3mp4fdxbxhiO7DhhWUOkd6fOf1cg_iL/w400-h225/Teddy+Nuremburg.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">More concerning is rare examples of teddies building fortresses from boxes of chocolates.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHfeBJgmbsV8PXB-zr-1q4G2SeCxOGPRh4uHvp0d6gwSH-SqqWMrDVKwe1N2V1amKJwGMBYck0KNFFjW-5G7pqj8R3fSuBlrw-zTgqdv-7dBH98GKabuFU-UAPNUE8-ekAAE9tVVnbgRY/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHfeBJgmbsV8PXB-zr-1q4G2SeCxOGPRh4uHvp0d6gwSH-SqqWMrDVKwe1N2V1amKJwGMBYck0KNFFjW-5G7pqj8R3fSuBlrw-zTgqdv-7dBH98GKabuFU-UAPNUE8-ekAAE9tVVnbgRY/w400-h225/Teddy+fort.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At present it is not known what is happening in the following picture, but it is possible that some form of sacrifice forms part of teddy social behaviour, with unknown but rather concerning purpose.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrMzmJvBoJE4eNK-SJBsslhDi57c151vYbhISEYzAy62onxixwdRWLcMOPJ3xGIm49RPd1sceDiWueonXyDVDAQqizi7N6nf380w_PP5UOmVQ8kObZ_sD9T9clkHannj7gS2J9GJ0mgwp/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1440" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrMzmJvBoJE4eNK-SJBsslhDi57c151vYbhISEYzAy62onxixwdRWLcMOPJ3xGIm49RPd1sceDiWueonXyDVDAQqizi7N6nf380w_PP5UOmVQ8kObZ_sD9T9clkHannj7gS2J9GJ0mgwp/w400-h225/Teddy+sacrifice.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />It's easy to dismiss Lindt chocolate teddy-bears as being a seasonal and harmless invasive species and particularly tasty and it is true to say that their main predator is my chocaholic wife Rona. However they do seem to breed very rapidly at this time of year and social media does indicate signficiant prublic concern about them.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbh1pX9eCe_OhgFY84Of77fQXjrzVHrxOnUF0vNEhynlv26GBCppA5xRCai-JTRnoe6greTRK-tq8yxjxFn_4MLgJDfFZkqaNDkiTmdEXbRwolfBy9FvRwGzjMdVaDTfgy-CR71sL145tb/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="936" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbh1pX9eCe_OhgFY84Of77fQXjrzVHrxOnUF0vNEhynlv26GBCppA5xRCai-JTRnoe6greTRK-tq8yxjxFn_4MLgJDfFZkqaNDkiTmdEXbRwolfBy9FvRwGzjMdVaDTfgy-CR71sL145tb/w400-h397/Rona+post+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7PO9ESt5qKQm_TKeNCuY8OkEpZn0ks4Kbcm099_rps9hgzy6URFpteI9mCBPwe10iwtK73zBtnhg46Q_3QnLwhgQwTe2T1880HJbrqDvwfAf_V3-5Fvh2CHWNceNdjAvidJJJPkcNiK6t/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="925" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7PO9ESt5qKQm_TKeNCuY8OkEpZn0ks4Kbcm099_rps9hgzy6URFpteI9mCBPwe10iwtK73zBtnhg46Q_3QnLwhgQwTe2T1880HJbrqDvwfAf_V3-5Fvh2CHWNceNdjAvidJJJPkcNiK6t/w400-h256/Rona+post+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjefW71dZEhJxMm4AAcb8-gyWmnjAX69I7CU3QAaiqvN6KH5HWvuAfW-jCPj2YJjH5jbYBFc8lHbiv0cO3o0OjZeB80XkdvxS4XsbQWqBI3x4K_o8rC-bcXayG6j6umviUGnjDRTkhh3-zg/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="936" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjefW71dZEhJxMm4AAcb8-gyWmnjAX69I7CU3QAaiqvN6KH5HWvuAfW-jCPj2YJjH5jbYBFc8lHbiv0cO3o0OjZeB80XkdvxS4XsbQWqBI3x4K_o8rC-bcXayG6j6umviUGnjDRTkhh3-zg/w377-h400/Rona+post+2.jpg" width="377" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hto46tO9iTfkAKk0VU8Bd50RwdZUmk7BHuvadXCYWNDwp29FGQe0RLvaGm_laY_lmmjcrRNlCzA8zfLWKn_cyjk93XRCg8iubVJSDYZIbnS7mdnwvTHSGCu82bLqPKtoC56DEVukuQws/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="932" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hto46tO9iTfkAKk0VU8Bd50RwdZUmk7BHuvadXCYWNDwp29FGQe0RLvaGm_laY_lmmjcrRNlCzA8zfLWKn_cyjk93XRCg8iubVJSDYZIbnS7mdnwvTHSGCu82bLqPKtoC56DEVukuQws/w400-h244/Rona+post+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-weight: 700; text-align: left;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-26929381354507611872021-12-04T15:53:00.006+00:002021-12-04T16:13:17.703+00:00Early career ecologists - making progress in winter<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Winter, hibernation season for ecologists? Not quite, but it's definitely the time to slow down, write reports, catch up on admin. and take back some of those extra hours we all work during the summer. But what if you're an early career ecologist, who either doesn't have a full-time job yet or whose seasonal role has now ended. How best can you best fill the winter months? Hopefully you've managed to earn enough in the summer to keep you going, but how best to prepare yourself for the next season?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I suspect you'll be spending an inordinate amount of time hunting the job sites, sending out CVs, crafting cover letters (a truly satanic task, if ever there was one) and praying that you'll get the job you know you deserve. <b>Whoah! </b>Stop that negative thought <b>NOW</b> - you <b>DO</b> deserve it. Winter is also peak the peak season for depression. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMTWyABv9NOeHaaIIVaCMwvHSoDnXVhHIFELScOLvtc-TR_eDvrkODTuDibCybHf9f88uXgECYu1v79ookxXySrFONjxSOmtrqJEy7t5nHq54Op_OJh26PtEOHRgEYKDe3mfME-YEcs14A/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="1122" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMTWyABv9NOeHaaIIVaCMwvHSoDnXVhHIFELScOLvtc-TR_eDvrkODTuDibCybHf9f88uXgECYu1v79ookxXySrFONjxSOmtrqJEy7t5nHq54Op_OJh26PtEOHRgEYKDe3mfME-YEcs14A/" width="254" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Earlier in the year I posted some suggestions for ways to enhance your field skills and improve you chances in the job market (<a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/field-skills-for-early-career-ecologists.html" target="_blank">Field skills for early career ecologists</a> and <a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/early-career-ecologists-and-hamster.html" target="_blank">Early career ecologists and hamster-powered scootering</a>). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">So what can you do to enhance your employability when the weather is wet and grubby and all the interesting wildlife is hibernating (I'm a bat specialist, so that may be a slightly biased view)? </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Here's a thought - how are your bryophyte ID skills? Many moons ago I recall standing, huddled together in the rain with a group of fellow-sufferers whilst <a href="https://www.nickhodgetts.co.uk/" target="_blank">Nick Hodgetts</a> bounded enthusiastically around an embankment, showing us different bryophyte species (Nick's a brilliant tutor by the way, and I can recommend the courses he leads). The fact is that bryophytes are often at their best when wet and some species are especially useful for habitat indication. I wrote a post about a few commoner bryophytes a few years back (<a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/right-diddly-wotsit-squirelly-and-more.html" target="_blank">Right-diddly-wotsit-squirrelly</a>) Since then the <a href="https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/" target="_blank">British Bryological Society</a> have completed their superlative field guide and I'm happy to say it's very user-friendly and a great addition to your christmas list.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRu6DTofUoaOGkFsPXrSEGIRO59QKIkonZp6qSeoUmw_YYlBr8nH1eO1LiBviFylHa-kWit6-F45y1c2oUNijZ1umJhl9QR5gSfb8OzpM_kkL5E3chzy6wetbm01OnWkGKtAibqFosQJ3/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="334" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRu6DTofUoaOGkFsPXrSEGIRO59QKIkonZp6qSeoUmw_YYlBr8nH1eO1LiBviFylHa-kWit6-F45y1c2oUNijZ1umJhl9QR5gSfb8OzpM_kkL5E3chzy6wetbm01OnWkGKtAibqFosQJ3/w269-h400/image.png" width="269" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A former member of my survey team got his first break into what has subsequently been a successful career in professional ecology, when he turned up to an interview and was handed a bag full of plant material and asked what he could ID from it. The first thing he noticed was <i>Polytrichum commune</i> - a large and striking moorland moss which, as luck would have it, I'd pointed out to him during an especially boring transect the evening before. Lucky or what? So don't neglect bryophytes! They have a charm all their own.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If you're a member of your local bat group now is the time to start asking about hibernation surveys. Be persistent and make sure they know how keen you are, because for many underground sites numbers need to be limited, to minimise disturbance. Data from these surveys feeds into the critically important <a href="https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/national-bat-monitoring-programme" target="_blank">National bat monitoring programme</a> and, after having to shelve surveys last winter due to Covid it's really important to gather data this winter (though there's a new risk assessment process). You do, of course, need to accompany someone with an appropriate bat license and not just for legal reasons - underground sites are dangerous. There's more about bat hibernation surveys here: <a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/great-hibernaculum-search.html" target="_blank">The great hibernaculum hunt</a> and here: <a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/great-hibernaculum-hunt-revisited.html" target="_blank">The great hibernaculum hunt revisited</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuk9utt2DjmZIcfCeQXCi1CsB5PymPIjFCQEXpcyupzsTwQtZonqFKVh7MA6SltQNEdTlyvP0SyWkLdY5yumQxx6jsPG-s3z8hB450hMwOEFivHPNZGpR45PVfliBZ5TQjlCImxHYNr2o/" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuk9utt2DjmZIcfCeQXCi1CsB5PymPIjFCQEXpcyupzsTwQtZonqFKVh7MA6SltQNEdTlyvP0SyWkLdY5yumQxx6jsPG-s3z8hB450hMwOEFivHPNZGpR45PVfliBZ5TQjlCImxHYNr2o/w400-h300/IMG_1407.JPG" width="400" /></a></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />How are your GIS skills? When the weather is miserable, why not delve into QGIS, the free open-access GIS system which has become ever more popular over the past few years? GIS is a core skill for a lot of ecology work and if you're new to QGIS there are many free resources to help you work your way into QGIS. Take a look at <a href="https://qgis.org/en/site/" target="_blank">The QGIS project</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Finally, winter weather isn't all bad news and there is nothing like freshly fallen snow for finding and identifying animal tracks - another very useful field skill. There are quite a few guides available, but my favourite is Preben Bang and Preben Dahlstrom's book, which has been in print since forever - I remember borrowing an early edition from the library when I was a teenager in the 1970s (the <b>late </b>1970s, just to be clear!). Don't be put off by the Ray Mears celebrity gimmick on the current edition, it's a really good field guide and well worth hinting to Santa about.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzBGRDLgmLTPIlmAQCJk-C-61TMuhKJRrglUXQ9Mgl6LrSH8BW1-kHktwZi7oEzVMJeh6PcFy2Mv5w3Fq4cY1LyElxCSyiuBeX9L36VH4BJqej2lkF0f2mXp5K-9sMG5xfeGZQRZAmNY6/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="348" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzBGRDLgmLTPIlmAQCJk-C-61TMuhKJRrglUXQ9Mgl6LrSH8BW1-kHktwZi7oEzVMJeh6PcFy2Mv5w3Fq4cY1LyElxCSyiuBeX9L36VH4BJqej2lkF0f2mXp5K-9sMG5xfeGZQRZAmNY6/w278-h400/image.png" width="278" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One final thought - when you get that interview and you're sat there, suited and booted and quivering slightly with fear t<b>ell them about all the stuff you've done. </b>Maybe it's a British thing, but far too many interviewees assume anything they've done probably isn't good enough and keep quiet about it unless there's a formal certificate or diploma. Take confidence in what you can achieve on your own and in what you <b>have</b> achieved. To prove my point, have a read of Ash Ronaldson's guest blog - <a href="http://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/paid-bat-surveying-is-actual-real-thing.html" target="_blank">Paid bat surveying is an actual, real thing - Ash's first season</a>. Ash has just accepted a full-time job as an Assistant Ecologist. See?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></div><div><br /></div></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-2861242741125084502021-11-09T11:50:00.006+00:002021-11-09T12:19:20.512+00:00Ode to a bat-hater<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjPVZr6kJOyjYUyK9_iNMzrp_72a8DZ8rQuIHAx1TAnsF25sg-RC0IbyzFGuSOLutYe9CRLN2WMAyYGXCkjbEQ7MTvEM0XSfmazz3WRQMUe3gXO8JS46nsswRzjsYXdDpqt4RI3O8qzQ2N/s1135/6F64C919-DBFD-4B34-A806-C1DB8BAEE9E1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1135" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjPVZr6kJOyjYUyK9_iNMzrp_72a8DZ8rQuIHAx1TAnsF25sg-RC0IbyzFGuSOLutYe9CRLN2WMAyYGXCkjbEQ7MTvEM0XSfmazz3WRQMUe3gXO8JS46nsswRzjsYXdDpqt4RI3O8qzQ2N/s320/6F64C919-DBFD-4B34-A806-C1DB8BAEE9E1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt;"> you’re not at all keen on bats?<br /></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt;">You seem to confuse them with rats,<br /></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt;">Or birds or possibly cats.<br /></span>Your thoughts on the matter,<br />Are mad as a hatter,<br />If unsure, why didn’t you ask?</span></div><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bats will get caught in your hair?</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To the bat that’s really not fair,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And factually lacking in care.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Your fixed prejudice,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is a load of old pish,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Though your truth-twisting’s done with real flair.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You firmly believe a bat ought,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For sucking of blood to be shot,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Or otherwise nastily caught.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Never forget,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The thing it just ‘et,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Was a midge and not you, you clot</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Your hatred of bats I hear,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is drip-fed by the press in your ear,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And based on irrational fear.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If only you’d see,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They’re actually twee,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The world would be better, that’s clear.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></div><div><br /></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-65941355024116956102021-11-01T20:54:00.001+00:002021-11-02T07:27:47.813+00:00Winter - when the gods of bat-work get sneaky <p><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve written previously about the gods of bat-work, the horde of devious and mischievous god-lets, who supervise all aspects of bat-work and amuse themselves at our expense. As we move towards winter bats begin to think about hibernation and bat ecologists relax. But the bat-gods stay awake. Without wakeful bats and busy surveys to interfere with they seek new ways to entertain themselves through the dark, damp days of winter…</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9BX_6EtUFO7BoMovToMBdOz82MwiHA_RhzMv0H9-TpdquoKKXrUSXcgL2DDx-LJqSxNenLJT5Bk5AECM9lV8_HboLh8Zem5QlskODl1Z9FASifn9mKHzltOIBVjRCwbiAJTvK9-O8jdY/s2048/915388.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9BX_6EtUFO7BoMovToMBdOz82MwiHA_RhzMv0H9-TpdquoKKXrUSXcgL2DDx-LJqSxNenLJT5Bk5AECM9lV8_HboLh8Zem5QlskODl1Z9FASifn9mKHzltOIBVjRCwbiAJTvK9-O8jdY/s320/915388.jpg" width="221" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">They shift their attention from field-work to cosy offices, to seek ways to entertain themselves. Whilst we make the most of the warm and dry they are quietly poking about in our cupboards, drawers and storage boxes, seeking out bat detectors. With great glee the bat god of batteries changes our nice Duracells and Eneloops for manky old leaking horrors, so that when spring comes and we dig out our nice shiny bat detector we find it's battery compartment awash with disgusting chemical gunk, rendering the detector useless. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Winter report-writing makes the bat-god of computing very happy. Over the years he has had to change his tactics, since auto-save robbed him of his favourite trick: making the lap-top crash with several hours of work un-saved. Now he has branched out into messing with broadband connections, so that just when you are trying to upload something big to the cloud, the bandwidth drops until it seems like the rest of your life will be spent, staring at that damned rotating circle.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Bat call analysis software allows the bat-god of echolocation many opportunities to have his fun. Almost daily the Insight and Kaleidoscope Facebook groups have plaintive messages from people who have found their favourite package doesn't work how it did yesterday in some subtle, frustrating and inexplicable way. Inevitably we blame the latest software update for those wasted hours, but the bat-gods know better.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Winter is the time when we bat ecologists re-discover a strange and half-forgotten thing called a social life and begin to enjoy going out in the evening, eating out, meeting friends and generally acting like normal human beings (you'll notice I say <i>like </i>normal human beings).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This disgraceful bat-free happiness infuriates the bat-gods, who believe that we should be entirely focused on them at all times. Inevitably their vengence is devious and nasty. Remember that office party when your 'hilarious' secret santa gift bombed horribly? Who do you think it was who whispered that idea in your ear? When you've a hot dinner date and your car won't start, it's not the cold weather wiping out the battery - there's a giggling little bat-god under the bonnet. And when you’re trudging miserably through ice, slush, hail and freezing cold, never forget it all exists simply because the gods of bat-work want you to look forward to the next survey season!</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">More about the gods of bat-work:</span></b></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/ignore-gods-of-bat-work-at-your-peril.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ignore the gods of bat-work at your peril</span></a></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/further-news-from-gods-of-bat-work.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Further news from the gods of bat-work</span></a></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-squircles-of-bat-worker-hell.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">The squircles of bat-worker hell</span></a></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-52576033829247664672021-10-11T20:29:00.005+01:002021-10-11T20:50:48.645+01:00"Paid bat surveying is an actual, real thing! - Ash's first season<p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The best part of my job is working with people I'm sure will take professional bat work and ecology to the next level in the future and helping them to move their careers forward. Here, Ash Ronaldson describes her first summer with us as a seasonal field ecologist.</span></i></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">First, a quick introduction: I’m Ash, a mature student in the
final year of my BSc in Ecology. I’ve worked and volunteered in many different
sectors and roles over the years, but a career involving bats in some way has
always been the dream. It took me an awfully long time to discover that bat surveying
is an actual, real thing that I could get paid to do, but here I am at last! I
enjoyed my first season so much that I wrote a little about it on my LinkedIn,
and David kindly invited me to expand on that here.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">I couldn’t have dreamed up a more perfect summer job if I
tried, nor a better company to start my ecology career with. I’ve learned more
in these three months than I imagined possible; from bat ecology, calls and
legal protections, to what goes into a survey report, how bat consultancy
“works”, and radio tracking.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMOQyNOpz2C3TNRD5NqLmZlUWUyQ4U8k8d81eDWmvA4Jn-voiWbooVRm6CXARts83lcXrkGFnpcZanGVlYd3Qo_GdsCmHfRUSgXesqCE4k-Ept3zioZcbXmWtW6WXf-RcvpO6M1LA98KSt/s637/AshRiver.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="502" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMOQyNOpz2C3TNRD5NqLmZlUWUyQ4U8k8d81eDWmvA4Jn-voiWbooVRm6CXARts83lcXrkGFnpcZanGVlYd3Qo_GdsCmHfRUSgXesqCE4k-Ept3zioZcbXmWtW6WXf-RcvpO6M1LA98KSt/w315-h400/AshRiver.jpg" width="315" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the biggest highlights was getting to see swarming
behaviour during dawn surveys - I always knew that bats communicated to make
group decisions about roosting locations, but I had never seen the process in
action before. A bat will land briefly (indicating potential roost location)
before speedily taking off again, somehow managing not to collide with all the
others flying around it. This can continue for a while, sometimes with a few
bats choosing to enter the roost or all going somewhere else entirely. On these
surveys, my job was to keep track of the location of roost entrances (or exits
on sunset surveys), counting how many bats entered or emerged from the area of
the building I’d been assigned to watch. I have to say, this is far easier said
than done when there are multiple roost entrances, hundreds of bats flying
around you, and you’re a bit busy grinning like an idiot because it’s your
first swarm and you can’t believe you’re really being paid to stand there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Every surveyor has a detector with an earpiece, and we are
given lots of training before embarking on surveys so that we can identify any
species of bat present. It can be tricky though, and this is where surveys with
multiple species (my record is five in one night!) were a particularly helpful
treat. No amount of listening to online clips compares to having several
species fly past you one after the other - suddenly the differences between
calls “click” into place (somewhat literally!) in your mind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJ8ME9bK7bTGAUS5p7BIQoH8b9yPWr9e_0VX7UWfUdOQv0u2Mf2Kp7I3RFbQpSKcp9cNw-5P9k9FLIVz9Vi7JsPSwyTFItWMcPIRnxaDCwRtAfFCg2h2JQLCnIK5C5H73D1u18AIpJYxC/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJ8ME9bK7bTGAUS5p7BIQoH8b9yPWr9e_0VX7UWfUdOQv0u2Mf2Kp7I3RFbQpSKcp9cNw-5P9k9FLIVz9Vi7JsPSwyTFItWMcPIRnxaDCwRtAfFCg2h2JQLCnIK5C5H73D1u18AIpJYxC/w400-h225/DSC_0857.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">(Photo by Scott Bland)</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Also helpful with this learning curve is the way that
surveys at DDAL (<i>David Dodds Associates Ltd.</i>) are run; when anyone sees or hears a bat, this is communicated
via radio to the lead surveyor who is roaming between us. I picked up some
great ID tips this way – if someone was unsure what they’d heard, they would
describe the call, and the lead surveyor would help identify the species. When
I heard the same call on my own detector later, I was able to identify it.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">What I hadn’t expected was the lead surveyor spending time
with each of us during almost every survey, and how invaluable these chances to
chat with more experienced ecologists would be for me. I’m one of these people
who craves knowledge; the more I learn, the more questions I come up with (and
I had plenty to begin with – sorry, team!). Thankfully, it’s easy to learn from
people so passionate about their work and happy to share their experiences. I
enjoyed this immensely.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yTgZoFaFIOS5ky84wG5Is2gA5A2LjVoWlQmRDf5WZUILH0E04WbuaBzcWxUFUZexfikdi9ecfrEC6N00BfZnQB42mA_TfP181fKuSkqjMzXr2QTCXbv9J6DIlWmYnbA80m8v5-PIm4Gk/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yTgZoFaFIOS5ky84wG5Is2gA5A2LjVoWlQmRDf5WZUILH0E04WbuaBzcWxUFUZexfikdi9ecfrEC6N00BfZnQB42mA_TfP181fKuSkqjMzXr2QTCXbv9J6DIlWmYnbA80m8v5-PIm4Gk/" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Photo by Scott Bland)</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">To wrap up the season, I had the privilege of (voluntarily)
participating in some bat radio tracking. To facilitate this, a tiny radio
transmitter is carefully attached to the bat’s back (by appropriately trained
and licenced professionals), and the bat is safely released where it was found.
The challenge for the team each evening - paired up for safety and with radios
for communication - was to use receivers with large antennas to track down the
location of our roosting tagged bats, then follow them as they left to see where
they would forage and eventually choose to roost for the night. Up and down
hills, over rough terrain and slipping in mud we went, sometimes losing the
signal several times in an evening, and wandering around in circles in the dark
or triangulating with another team to find it again. Much as I grumped about
the hills, it really was a lot of fun!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sadly, the 2021 season has now come to a close. Although some nights were less enjoyable than others
(drizzly urban surveys with far more humans than bats, for example), I
genuinely learned something new on every single one. Being part of such a
welcoming, supportive team has been a privilege, and I can’t wait to see what
next year holds.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ash</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">
linkedin.com/ashronaldson | t: @NotFraxinus </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNdLCfN-gLtCJKIwqF4cQEhRu8qyvuglicCcC9lOdRqj4rebYjdcubXvlLnN6gAp-SxeeiFdeklNeioJs2_b4BqPYCVBylerJm0alC_fLvyVI2We02S0jOX718V-WvDxWvhTloHfOfMWy/s948/Ash_LI.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="782" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNdLCfN-gLtCJKIwqF4cQEhRu8qyvuglicCcC9lOdRqj4rebYjdcubXvlLnN6gAp-SxeeiFdeklNeioJs2_b4BqPYCVBylerJm0alC_fLvyVI2We02S0jOX718V-WvDxWvhTloHfOfMWy/s320/Ash_LI.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-weight: 700; text-align: left;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-73999423666439219712021-10-06T20:43:00.006+01:002021-10-07T00:05:49.316+01:00Seasonal field ecologists - the future of ecology<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMnSLv0Ufa9bO4cF-Q2gNzGWmGwe-IHiM0EPXAiNLagK2SXj52OHVxC4UsdgchyC-pXnJrx2WlFBItqOrq8BviQbtnnc7egMjFB8Gct6t01HPLZU1E977ooq1ffKbtUk_yK26Hg88EV0EP/s2048/20160319_155903.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMnSLv0Ufa9bO4cF-Q2gNzGWmGwe-IHiM0EPXAiNLagK2SXj52OHVxC4UsdgchyC-pXnJrx2WlFBItqOrq8BviQbtnnc7egMjFB8Gct6t01HPLZU1E977ooq1ffKbtUk_yK26Hg88EV0EP/w400-h225/20160319_155903.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Part of our 2016 team at a training event. This group includes three future PhDs, four future consultant ecologists, four who went on to work with conservation NGOs and one who now works in wildlife rehabilitation.</span></i></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2010 our company (David Dodds Associates Ltd) first began recruiting and training our specialist team of seasonal field ecologists who usually work with us for between two and four seasons. We tend to recruit early-career ecologists, undergraduate and postgraduate students or recent graduates and this gives a dual benefit. We can train them to carry out bat surveys to our specific standards and methods and we are also able to shape the future of professional ecology and equip some of the next generation of professional ecologists with a sound knowledge of bat conservation and ecology. To date 124 people have worked with us and many are now working in consultancies, SNCOs, NGOs etc in the UK and abroad, giving me a great deal of personal satisfaction, watching their careers progress.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We aim to maximise the benefit to our team of working with us, as this helps build a committed and enthusiastic team:</span></p><p></p><ol><li><span style="font-family: arial;">We provide our seasonal field ecologists with full training at the start of their career and commit to ensuring that, when they leave us they have as sound and as broad a knowledge of bat conservation as possible and we do this in several ways:</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Every survey is treated as a training opportunity, with the site discussed beforehand, in terms of bat suitability, habitat etc.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Each seasonal field ecologist has one-to-one time with the lead ecologist during virtually every survey, to discuss the survey and results and broader questions of bat ecology and conservation.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">We aim to provide additional training and resources, beyond that required for the specific work of the field ecologists, giving them opportunities to get involved in winter hibernation surveys, bat box checks and so on.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">More experienced members of our team are given the opportunity to train for bat licenses in-house, if they wish.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">We run a long-term project at Whitmuir organic farm, near Penicuik, where members of the team have the opportunity to get involved in advanced bat survey techniques such as harp-trapping, use of acoustic lures, radio-tracking etc.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We try to foster a team spirit amongst our field ecologists and reward success. We have lively (and often irreverent) private social media groups on Whatsapp and Facebook, we host an annual all-expenses dinner for the team and most importantly there is our ‘donut policy’. This states that, at urban surveys, surveys with low bat activity or ones with potentially irritating interactions with the public, donuts are provided at the end as a morale-raiser (on occasions pain au chocolat are substituted at dawn).</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOQse-_R7nH7dJE42v4N60Pkn5606omDBEdTS5_J23E88gpvjbGSdyN2dTBbwHAgZuuCj3T8NJvFe2zPrfwBE5VXDH-5Wd0kFPfodxdqEgkOOWFsIeupHctLJ_xhYZglPQwiJjwIoDRb-/s2048/20170705_221112692_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOQse-_R7nH7dJE42v4N60Pkn5606omDBEdTS5_J23E88gpvjbGSdyN2dTBbwHAgZuuCj3T8NJvFe2zPrfwBE5VXDH-5Wd0kFPfodxdqEgkOOWFsIeupHctLJ_xhYZglPQwiJjwIoDRb-/w400-h300/20170705_221112692_iOS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">A post-survey donut feeding frenzy after a sunset survey in a rough urban area.</span></i></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I always remind team members that they are intelligent, capable people. Just because they are at an early stage of their careers doesn't mean they can't have a good idea or spot a weakness in what we do. In fact, coming to it with fresh eyes means they are more likely to do so and we've adopted numerous suggestions and enhancements over the years. This approach of constant improvement ensures we keep reviewing and improving what we do and encourages all of our team to feel valued.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wherever possible all promoted positions within our company are recruited either from within the current team of seasonal field ecologists or from previous team members, helping to show our commitment to them, as well as ensuring we promote people we already know to be competent. A great example of this is Charlotte Meyer-Wilson, who started with us whilst studying her MSc and was promoted to full-time Assistant Ecologist when she graduated. At the end of that season she moved on, working as a consultant with two other consultancies, before returning to us as a fully-fledged consultant ecologist and licensed bat specialist.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvD5NSI3zsnMJzITDl2IqvhU3J613cwHhOdu0HLKmUvsSnB_yWfyixVeisr2nCeZBkE-3CmvhxOjGqjnmFlQRIkh3HEE_H7OKxCbxdU0-mBcbC5MhMNjbte6-GRT5ZVm8DubjQF3gRzaD3/s2048/20180606_034243378_iOS.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvD5NSI3zsnMJzITDl2IqvhU3J613cwHhOdu0HLKmUvsSnB_yWfyixVeisr2nCeZBkE-3CmvhxOjGqjnmFlQRIkh3HEE_H7OKxCbxdU0-mBcbC5MhMNjbte6-GRT5ZVm8DubjQF3gRzaD3/w400-h300/20180606_034243378_iOS.heic" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Charlotte Meyer-Wilson, surveying a Brown Long-eared bat roost near Edinburgh</i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I find that this approach gives us a highly committed and enthusiastic team of field ecologists, who enjoy their work and are dedicated to doing it well. I firmly believe that this is essential to the consistent delivery of good professional standards of survey work. Just as importantly, we can all enjoy our work.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></span></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-69956437019631552262021-09-28T21:46:00.002+01:002021-09-28T21:46:41.030+01:00Chirps in the noise - the hunt for a missing bat<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; text-size-adjust: auto;">“Chirp…chirp…chirp.” I’m sitting on a clump of grass, with the farms and villages of the Dead burn valley laid out in front of me, one or two lights beginning to come on as the light begins to fail. “Chirp…chirp…chirp.” I’m holding a directional yagi antenna, pointed towards some farm buildings below me and on my lap sits a strongly-built radio receiver. The gain is set to maximum and the signal strength meter bounces to the right, in time with each sound.</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; text-size-adjust: auto;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRrvWzqqrF9_8A6_TnslArXqF4D9-ojf9wquKpnE16VWtfrkTALR35PzPxeTCf4hCnIKojRYsfj5fO8EE_4-09ygrzUbWT-Nlqw0mQSSTtP1sGPDItuN-hWQgFXB7wlYUYfm-XVi9ohMmW/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRrvWzqqrF9_8A6_TnslArXqF4D9-ojf9wquKpnE16VWtfrkTALR35PzPxeTCf4hCnIKojRYsfj5fO8EE_4-09ygrzUbWT-Nlqw0mQSSTtP1sGPDItuN-hWQgFXB7wlYUYfm-XVi9ohMmW/w400-h300/20190826_192533014_iOS.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt;">This is a pleasantly relaxing moment, watching the world winding down and waiting for my target to show its face. Before long I will leap into action, but for now I can just wait and relax.</span></span></span><p></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A walk-in-talkie clipped to my jacket crackles. “Nothing yet.” says a remote voice. 400 feet below me and about half a kilometer as the crow flies, a couple of young ecologists with similar equipment are standing in the farmyard, waiting for a Common pipistrelle to emerge from her roost. We’ve been following this bat for several nights and are starting to build a picture of her nightly behavior. But a couple of times she has simply disappeared from the area where she spends most of her time and we haven’t yet succeeded in finding her before she returns. But tonight we’re ready for her.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Glued to the fur on her back with a special rubbery glue is a minuscule radio transmitter, half the size of my little fingernail, it’s hair-thin wire antenna trailing over her tail. It’s tiny battery produces a tiny radio signal - a steady series of chirps we can only hear if there is nothing between us and her. Not too hard perhaps in the flatlands of East Anglia, but here in the southern uplands of Scotland it’s an exciting challenge - every fold in the land is capable of blocking the signal, so that we hear nothing.</span><p></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The radio crackles again. “She’s out.” The chase is on. Almost immediately the sound changes and the strength of the chirps vary, as she flies round the farm buildings, the old sandstone walls attenuating the signal. I slowly move the antenna to the left a few degrees and check the signal. It’s louder. To the right again. It’s quieter. Constant adjustments and checks allow me to keep track of her. The team below are doing the same and we constantly share compass bearings. She is roughly where they intersect on the map. They give chase, but my tack is to monitor from my hill-top eyrie and help them fill the gap.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;">True to form, after forty minutes of foraging around the tree-lined margins of a large pig-field she suddenly makes a move. I’m alerted by the fleet-footed team below and a moment later “we’ve lost her.” But I still have a faint signal for another few seconds before she disappears and I get that all-important bearing. A check of the contours on the Ordnance survey map reveal a fold in the land in that direction, with a tree-lined pond. I vector the team onto it and off they go. Ten minutes later the walk-in-talkie crackles with a triumphant shout. “Got her!”</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I sit back onto my comfy clump of grass, satisfied with another piece fitted into the jigsaw of this bat’s behaviour. With a sigh of satisfaction I change the frequency of the detector, to see what’s happening with the bat that team two are following.</span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwsBfYqnySTX6_LJZzErytULNQBHDPmycDMJxvxei7T8Y8WmRFZagWSb5AZwtnFmO0Kue12tJN5WHDSE0jIhQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></span></p><p lang="en-US" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-20847760013532346942021-09-20T14:23:00.003+01:002021-09-20T14:23:29.733+01:00In the bat-caves with a camera<p><span style="font-family: arial;">People are often surprised to discover that my first degree was in medieval history, rather than ecology. As it happens I'm also qualified to decode Morse code, carry out psychometric testing and chair legal tribunals, but none of these are relevant either and just show how my career wandered about before I found my forte! But the history of science can be an intriguing cross-over - how did our knowledge of bats and ecology arrive where it is now and who did the ground-work for us?</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2oKXPwqRrhdJatBKp5_EdE2pEks1vJvYG1JJ-im__zFJGHVKAldbJZH5yWuWE_Ga_Cm9Vxx1xv1qSiczHkt9Nig7unwBfiZnoGltXxUvMlppU006F4h_dihSARLoms4BVwPA7UX66NDBS/s519/4+PH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="519" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2oKXPwqRrhdJatBKp5_EdE2pEks1vJvYG1JJ-im__zFJGHVKAldbJZH5yWuWE_Ga_Cm9Vxx1xv1qSiczHkt9Nig7unwBfiZnoGltXxUvMlppU006F4h_dihSARLoms4BVwPA7UX66NDBS/w400-h378/4+PH.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Back in 2009 I wrote a couple of articles on this subject: <a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/diffusion-of-useful-knowledge.html" target="_blank">The 'diffusion of useful knowldge'</a> and <a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/1892-bat-worker.html" target="_blank">An 1892 bat-worker</a>. I recently came across another article from 1898, written by T.A.Coward in a magazine called <i>"Wide World"</i>, describing efforts by he and his friend MR R. Newstead of Chester to photograph bats in various British caves, at a time when photography hadn't progressed far from the formal staged photographs of the Victorian era.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Reading articles of this vintage can be startling at times. Back then natural history was not the conservation movement it now is. Much of the damage we are now desperately trying to repair had yet to be done to the natural world by the technological and chemical advances of the twentieth century and wildlife was seen as an abundant resource, to be drawn from freely in order to study it. Our modern views on the humane treatment of animals were also in their infancy. We have to grit our teeth and set these things aside if we want to listen to the voices of our forebears in the light of the world they lived in at the time.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMF3X5TmOv_MPQd4U4ttxYPBnC2HKLvP3Xj_zrH6iL-OCsp9JJDbfcJ7Pganvj_jK-hb6coIA08_qmNzsQqlIVowxJEpejKP3bI4kvOCt6hBets-Q7cKR3K8VnwpCJgAxJQe7A0d0pwcs/s613/1+HS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="613" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMF3X5TmOv_MPQd4U4ttxYPBnC2HKLvP3Xj_zrH6iL-OCsp9JJDbfcJ7Pganvj_jK-hb6coIA08_qmNzsQqlIVowxJEpejKP3bI4kvOCt6hBets-Q7cKR3K8VnwpCJgAxJQe7A0d0pwcs/w400-h350/1+HS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>Despite that, it's possible to see that many of the problems we face today were just as problematic to the Victorian natural historian:</span><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"...the naturalist thinks little of experiences like these, and if his clothes are dirty and his hair is full of mud as he walks home, looking like a bricklayer's labourer, what does it matter...?"</i></span></p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLfEWoXiUbYLrGFVoOaEZHamPIAWAV1PARJMc1ZYCe-ONiDmYa9EtNGfBmDn0tKs5xQ8tnj3vhmTo7daeK5q153FNXJLf32DazUBMqx5eyEVTBRbAkGmw81zJn5xF9-EnBBcowSq1Mjl_/s854/3++Cave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="610" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLfEWoXiUbYLrGFVoOaEZHamPIAWAV1PARJMc1ZYCe-ONiDmYa9EtNGfBmDn0tKs5xQ8tnj3vhmTo7daeK5q153FNXJLf32DazUBMqx5eyEVTBRbAkGmw81zJn5xF9-EnBBcowSq1Mjl_/w286-h400/3++Cave.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: arial;">That sounds like many a hibernaculum survey I have done. He goes one to remind us that he is talking from one and a quarter centuries ago when he continues...</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"...if in his pocket he has his treasures, and when he arrives he will be able to examine or photograph his little friend the bat."</i></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Oops. He also mentions a Daubenton's Bat he <i>"had wounded"</i>, swimming itself to shore, which makes uncomfortable reading for us today, as does hearing that Coward:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"...once received a large number of these bats from the North of Scotland."</i></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A powerful comparison with today can be seen, when he talks about gaining access to bats, to study them:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"We have found the best way to obtain them alive is to search for them in their native caves... We have scrambled about in the semi-darkness lit only by the guttering, greasy candles, our boots sticking in the wet clay..."</i></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Hand-held bat detectors were almost a century away, let alone infra-red cameras. Even the electric torch was about twenty years away. Whatever we may think about taking bats home to photograph (whether dead or alive), there's no doubt that this was hard-core work! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Newstead also took pictures of bats in situ in caves, though arguably the magnesium flares he had to use for illumination must have impacted on the poor subject bats. Nonetheless, it's exciting to see his photographs, which must surely be some of the earliest pictures of bats in their roosts. However, some of his portrait pictures are very definitely of dead and possibly taxidermied specimens!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdtBb39MzMUSp1xxHjHFaSwCL5c1H2Ldn_KGiQQcczvAdqZRPIvLeEv4O6MzV-p7ze-QObADpwWSc-5tuaVnhjVgUYnEXT0Ih3lIMnv_-_GNY5U5vM7aJ-Vr3rigazGDj1H7VRnY_k8K-/s816/5+LE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="816" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdtBb39MzMUSp1xxHjHFaSwCL5c1H2Ldn_KGiQQcczvAdqZRPIvLeEv4O6MzV-p7ze-QObADpwWSc-5tuaVnhjVgUYnEXT0Ih3lIMnv_-_GNY5U5vM7aJ-Vr3rigazGDj1H7VRnY_k8K-/w400-h296/5+LE.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I've written before about how weird occurances and bat-work seem to go hand-in-hand (<a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/bat-surveys-where-odd-stuff-is-normal.html" target="_blank">Bat surveys - where odd stuff is normal</a>, <a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/bat-surveys-where-odd-stuff-is-normal.html" target="_blank">There's nowt so queer as folk</a> and <a href="https://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-is-it-about-bat-surveys.html" target="_blank">What is it about bat surveys?</a>) It seems things was no different in 1898:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"...we entered an old lead working in Derbyshire, and just as we were striking a light </i>(presumably to light a candle!) <i>we were suddenly backed into by a cow that had been sheltering from the hot sun in the cool recesses of the cave."</i></span></p></blockquote><p>C<span style="font-family: arial;">oward's love of bats might not always be apparent in his approach to studying them, but it certainly in in his prose:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"The Whiskered bat, a neat little fellow..."</i></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">"The Pipistrelle, or Flittermouse, is a pocket edition of the Noctule."</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">"Perhaps the quaintest of our commoner species is the Long-eared bat...as it turns its beady little eyes towards us, twitching its great ears, it seems to be asking who it is that is so rudely disturbing it."</span></i></p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCRFs1XLbbA4O0Fwb03wUCZVkkDs2BLOIxsh-RUQgnZ1oA4APsI_n3xJkKxWybssJWvjH0Du7YlmCD0tZXLVr8921DfSlSREMemimfJgi6BLUha875dv5ZVuDkhaBUPTpJC7GbvXIS0G6/s1163/2+HSs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="1163" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCRFs1XLbbA4O0Fwb03wUCZVkkDs2BLOIxsh-RUQgnZ1oA4APsI_n3xJkKxWybssJWvjH0Du7YlmCD0tZXLVr8921DfSlSREMemimfJgi6BLUha875dv5ZVuDkhaBUPTpJC7GbvXIS0G6/w640-h438/2+HSs.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Early naturalists like Coward and Newstead helped to build the early foundation towards an understanding of bats that we are still building and though their methods are alien to us today, we still owe them a debt. Coward wasn't shy of using his magazine article to address some anti-bat prejudices that seem very familar today:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"...wherever we go we are told stories of the "nasty things" flying in through windows, atttacted to sheets hanging up to dry, or getting entangled in ladies' hair. We only know they will never fly through windows, they never come when we hang up sheets and they take great care to keep away, not only from our heads, but well out of arms reach."</i></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> </p></blockquote>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-89789119989097867512021-09-12T19:36:00.003+01:002021-09-12T19:43:19.234+01:00Super-speedy-cheap bat surveys!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVuGeiwxq7JjzwaovTl43s7e0ZcE77FpsbcDzSyh_dcRe3OftCkixygFlv-zlQVp4SjmUc8GEfb96M2yt4pNwU_lNkxnHUb9oRQt0c9mrBtP3_9Wxuh4wM9MSiUpFFYrOk-S_OJHQAjPB/s1339/2D21E65E-F1F5-4B8F-A556-6EF2CB6855B5.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1339" data-original-width="1090" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVuGeiwxq7JjzwaovTl43s7e0ZcE77FpsbcDzSyh_dcRe3OftCkixygFlv-zlQVp4SjmUc8GEfb96M2yt4pNwU_lNkxnHUb9oRQt0c9mrBtP3_9Wxuh4wM9MSiUpFFYrOk-S_OJHQAjPB/w325-h400/2D21E65E-F1F5-4B8F-A556-6EF2CB6855B5.jpeg" width="325" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Roll up, roll up people, get them while they’re hot,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Super-speedy-cheap surveys, with a detector that I’ve got.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s just a cheap detector, neither broad-band nor much use,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But the guidelines are too complex, so I play fast and loose.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">My customers know no better, of standards they know not,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As long as I’m cheap and cheerful and the council accept the lot.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The council had an ecologist, laid off due to cuts,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So now I hardly need to lie, in my reports from ‘Comic Cuts’. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This building needs six people, but we are only three:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">My granny, Fred from down the pub and little ‘bat expert’ me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The client will not notice, so in my report I’ll lie,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">And say that there were eight of us, well-equipped and spry.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Granny keeps on wandering and often needs a pee,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">And Fred knows nowt about bats, but bull-sh*ts as good as me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve two more surveys on tonight, so they I must invent,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">For we are Super-speedy-cheap, for clients heaven-sent.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Of course I have a license - a really nice one too,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Signed off thirty years ago, by a mate, works down the zoo.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">They tell me conservation law has changed in all that time,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It matters not - I always turn, a blind eye to wildlife crime.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We very rarely find a roost, in fact I prefer not to,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It makes my clients happier and keeps us speedy too.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When Licensing’s required, you won’t see me for dust,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">For fear of being found out and maybe going bust.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So I’ll keep on doing what I do, and getting away with it,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Doing surveys cheap and quick, but honestly quite sh*t.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I’m hoping council funding continues to be pathetic,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">‘Cos neither them, nor SNCOs have time to see I’m at it.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-66789093750175077582021-09-09T20:18:00.002+01:002021-09-10T15:37:02.556+01:00The forthcoming Anabat Chorus - first impressions<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to do passive monitoring of bats you had three options - the proven and dependable sandwich-box-shrouded Anabat SD1, with it's ZC recording system (seems clunky now, but was heaven-sent in those days of memory-deprivation and snail-like computers) or the Songmeter SM2 from the then new kids on the block, Wildlife Acoustics. Option three was to cobble up some kind of half-baked system with a basic detector plugged into a dictaphone and plenty of us dabbled with that sort of thing! Today however, the marketplace is full of options and new models keep trickling onto the market.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wildlife Acoustics recently launched the Songmeter Mini and I'll say more about that in another post, but there is a clear move towards lower-cost passive monitoring machines, possibly in response to the development of the incredibly low-cost Audiomoth. When you can buy a passive detector for thirty quid (extra for the polythene bag to hang it in!) then £1300 or more seems excessive. However, for professional work the Audiomoth seems an uncertain option, with too much geekery involved. Though that will probably change in time, it creates an opening for the manufacturers to slide in new mid-range passive detectors, drawing on their experience and reliability. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpbVg24i3xdXkwc1TOD8vvWypGeYsIF-EoeymyYf33VbLUDfwHSeQAhP_sMQAyws12IJHbv-XCQbsCNw2hqomJU_oyw5V2TMjGiqEoXXxsTYgBIfXZlGc2eOzF0jwuMiVIHWrSvBL6wcv/s2048/Chorus.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1807" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpbVg24i3xdXkwc1TOD8vvWypGeYsIF-EoeymyYf33VbLUDfwHSeQAhP_sMQAyws12IJHbv-XCQbsCNw2hqomJU_oyw5V2TMjGiqEoXXxsTYgBIfXZlGc2eOzF0jwuMiVIHWrSvBL6wcv/w282-h320/Chorus.JPG" width="282" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: arial;">The new Anabat Chorus</i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Andrew Dobson of Titley Scientific was kind enough to lend me a beta model of their forthcoming new machine, the Anabat Chorus. I've long been quite keen on Anabat equipment - it's not perfect (what is?), but Titley tend to listen carefully to customers and build on what they learn from each model. The Chorus is a good example. At first sight the case looks similar to the Swift and Express models, both of which are a pig to open, as the latches are incredibly tight - a necessity, to seal the case against moisture ingress. The solution is rather elegant - a large lever-type arrangement applies one of those first physics lessons we learned at school and makes opening and sealing the case much easier. There are also pierced flanges top and bottom, increasing the options for attaching the case to a substrate, especially useful for longer-term installations.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Inside the case, at first sight it seems similar to the Swift and has most of the functionality, but instead of the sexy (and costly) touch-screen, the screen is more basic, with up/down/left/right buttons. The battery case takes four AA batteries, but with Eneloops (the rechargeables of the gods), that should give many weeks of recording, in fact Titley claim 40 nights is possible. And they've retained the easily accessible back-up battery, so you can change it yourself when needed. As with most equipment nowadays, GPS is built-in, ensuring that that accurate sunset and sunset times can be depended on. There's also a temperature sensor, though personally, I rarely trust the data from in-built sensors. The detector is not always in the best location to get sensible data, so I tend to use a separate temperature datalogger in a shady spot nearby.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkOsxyeei9qVNRyp_AajcfRqgyKzB7B_LoY9HzvOKKywXgQIrxDP1Z7KQYJk5Rji0baZnNZsY2ga0tFSI5VilEUiWMbiI4r69qTQfgaL7d95JgqVFSP3XRn5-duc8kqhgsjPOp1oJmOVt/s4608/IMG_5203.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkOsxyeei9qVNRyp_AajcfRqgyKzB7B_LoY9HzvOKKywXgQIrxDP1Z7KQYJk5Rji0baZnNZsY2ga0tFSI5VilEUiWMbiI4r69qTQfgaL7d95JgqVFSP3XRn5-duc8kqhgsjPOp1oJmOVt/w400-h300/IMG_5203.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: arial;">The interior of the machine and the controls - essentially a budget version of the Swift controls, but without losing anything vital that I could find</i></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV08RF5UH0QcPwOSb9SG6fAdR4y5WW4Jg6M7HxSA-hx-o-gBnAS2dqGCGvXbszeDr8UU3iEwWCX8FCvulYlNahE9E2WnK7At8CqyO80Y7Kw3BQJY_Wkh2AGgbTnwficy6yzlvk1z30e48v/s2048/Chorus+rear.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1706" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV08RF5UH0QcPwOSb9SG6fAdR4y5WW4Jg6M7HxSA-hx-o-gBnAS2dqGCGvXbszeDr8UU3iEwWCX8FCvulYlNahE9E2WnK7At8CqyO80Y7Kw3BQJY_Wkh2AGgbTnwficy6yzlvk1z30e48v/w334-h400/Chorus+rear.JPG" width="334" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Rear view, showing the pierced mounting flanges and the lever arrangement, for opening the case with breaking a finger</span></i></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial;">In use, I found it to function exactly as expected, with similar funtionality to the Swift, using the control panel to select simpler timing options or a new software package to allow custom settings. As with the Swift, you can record ultrasound as .zc or.wav. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">There was a little distortion in the recordings, though this was probably due to reflections off the case. You can't use an extension lead with the microphone, as with the Swift, but Dean Thompson from Titley advises that there'll be an optional goose-neck extension to move it away from the case and reduce this effect. </span><div><p><i></i></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK9ztXwM1F_RLiVBmHx8ug5IHkd-zLsMuI1O_3n2mg4R3w9gPamt3bzv0HkVgfOf89Y8s5lEGdDmmojLqMUi7M9WQN6kQxM_RUoCciVJWGxtU_dRN-BLg-3gjB7MD99qBKYmZk_IilfrWu/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK9ztXwM1F_RLiVBmHx8ug5IHkd-zLsMuI1O_3n2mg4R3w9gPamt3bzv0HkVgfOf89Y8s5lEGdDmmojLqMUi7M9WQN6kQxM_RUoCciVJWGxtU_dRN-BLg-3gjB7MD99qBKYmZk_IilfrWu/w300-h400/Chorus+gooseneck+%2528002%2529.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></i></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The optional microphone gooseneck</span></i></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo copyright Titley Scientific)</span></span></i></i></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm happy to say that they have retained that wonderfully simple crowd-pleaser, the little magnet on a string. This allows you to check the machine is functioning properly once it's in position - rarely essential, but massively reassuring before you walk away, trusting that when you return in three weeks time the detector will have recorded as expected.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Considering that the Chorus will retail at £595 +VAT I was a bit bemused as to where the savings had been made, by comparison to the rather pricey Swift (currently £1194 + VAT from NHBS). According to Dean, the main differences are:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">You can't use an extension mic lead (the gooseneck will cost extra)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">The machine can only use 4 AA batteries, unlike the choice of 4 or 8 with the Swift.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">It only has one memory card slot, instead of two (but with the massive capacity cards now available, that's hardly a problem).</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">You can only record from one microphone at a time.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: arial;">What's this I hear you ask? "One of two microphones"? The Chorus has an acoustic microphone as well as an ultrasonic one, giving you the chance to record birds, frogs, crickets or whatever else takes your fancy (for £200 less you;ll be able to get one with just the acoustic mic). It has the same ultrasonic microphone element as the Swift (though they're not interchangeable). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">One concern I have is that the microphones seem quite vulnerable, as they are attached to mouldings on the case. The Swift and Express come with excellent protective carry-cases, but apparently that won't be the case for the Swift, so I think a protective case to store and transport it will be an essential extra.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSy1bI4P8sTj2GNh-nHw6WBcmRRBYEn-npKncm-BsYTqpfpiQ9ROkrGu3mxw0fghpiVbpOBPIQbACOCuEs03zwyHNYb_xH8TZxwpTe7dNc48ZAOrcsydD__I4SmL_TyBbPstAtYo2KJikm/s4608/IMG_5202.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSy1bI4P8sTj2GNh-nHw6WBcmRRBYEn-npKncm-BsYTqpfpiQ9ROkrGu3mxw0fghpiVbpOBPIQbACOCuEs03zwyHNYb_xH8TZxwpTe7dNc48ZAOrcsydD__I4SmL_TyBbPstAtYo2KJikm/w400-h300/IMG_5202.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>In this view you can see the two microphones, ultrasonic on the left, acoustic on the right.</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Overall I was quite impressed with what we'll get for the price-point. I was also impressed that most of what has been removed to get the price down is unlikely to be missed much and that Titley have taken the opportunity to add some simple enhancements that improve the package. It's disappointing that the gooseneck microphone mount will be an additional cost over the basic price, but they are going to have Wildlife Acoustic's Songmeter Mini to compete with and I reckon that will be a fair fight. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The machine I was trying out was a beta model, so the final product may be slightly different. And if you want a seriously techie appraisal you'll need to look elsewhere - my musings here are for those of us who want to actually use the machine, rather than devour the specifications! But if that floats your boat y</span><span style="font-family: arial;">ou can find the full specification on Titley's website: </span><a href="https://www.titley-scientific.com/uk/chorus.html" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Anabat Chorus</a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">PS - the photos above show a foam sock on the ultrasonic mic, but it belongs on the acoustic mic (when I tested it, it was on the correct mic!)</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p></p></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-23108862959563412272021-09-01T18:52:00.000+01:002021-09-01T18:52:11.227+01:00The dawn survey dirge<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I promised I wouldn't do this again.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I lied.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsESENMLXYdIfgflAOaBwcU5ChXZ2gMXvPOg50qb3LtJeipXSzh0ReVtPqxTQ5CZyCyk2kMghsGaxhKMuUY-JMd1_-GlJi2frF4jk_1ELTtyUx5N8A04kYS92GCwnN7G8KezN9LPLVHogU/s2048/838CD472-85D0-4282-BD38-899AA732F5D2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsESENMLXYdIfgflAOaBwcU5ChXZ2gMXvPOg50qb3LtJeipXSzh0ReVtPqxTQ5CZyCyk2kMghsGaxhKMuUY-JMd1_-GlJi2frF4jk_1ELTtyUx5N8A04kYS92GCwnN7G8KezN9LPLVHogU/w400-h300/838CD472-85D0-4282-BD38-899AA732F5D2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A particularly dismal dawn survey inspired me (is there such a thing as negative inspiration?) to write a </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Dawn survey dirge. </i><span style="font-family: arial;">Can you tell it's almost the end of the survey season and I'm flagging a bit?!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's to be sung to the tune of '<i>When a felon's not engaged in his employment'</i> from <i>'The Pirates of Penzance'. </i></span><span style="font-family: arial;">If you're not familiar with it, here's the original - </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me58ToO6owo" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">YouTube</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>When the sun is not engaged in it's employment,<br />And the caffeine isn’t doing what it ought,<br />The pre-dawn chilliness, it feels hell-sent,<br />And you regret the Esso sandwich that you bought.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><i>Our reluctance we with difficulty smother,<br />When dawn surveying duty’s to be done,<br />We must drag ourselves from one bed or another,<br />A bat-worker’s lot’s a really crappy one.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br />When dawn surveying duty’s to be done, to be done,<br />A bat-worker’s lot’s a really crappy one, crappy one.<br /> <br />When the trip-hazard is in utter darkness hidden,<br />And a moth flies in your ear, causing stress,<br />Whilst mosquitos gnaw upon you most unbidden,<br />And your sweeties have become a soggy mess.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br />When your folding camp-chair under you has broken,</i><br /><i>And rain-water, it is seeping in your boot,<br />Whilst your bat detector firmware won’t awaken,<br />And you fear your head-torch battery’s up the chute.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br />When dawn surveying duty’s to be done, to be done,<br />A bat-worker’s lot’s a really crappy one, crappy one</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When I inflicted <i><a href="http://davidsbatblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-bat-identification-song-with.html" target="_blank">'The bat identification song'</a> </i>upon the world<i> </i>several mischievous people suggested I should post a video of myself singing it, or even perform it at their bat group or a conference. There are several problems with this, chiefly that my singing voice resembles a part-strangled cat having its genitals mangled whilst gargling. But feel free to step in - YouTube, fame and fortune awaits the brave!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-12277191694865642562021-08-29T21:00:00.003+01:002021-08-29T21:00:19.717+01:00Sunset and sunrise surveys - maximising quality<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn5lMT5L6QKuOdfmFmk6A1ZG-t2cQyDvmtAcT-lAkdKAK1M6NROcEmRVZRbqJO-id4DwCX3UiX5m0LZXEp7chZXZXgWjntj1StCrC2IiQ4BVfD1CjIpmIDqmVQjNRWVRgbu9jbleeipgLl/s640/Field+ecologist.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn5lMT5L6QKuOdfmFmk6A1ZG-t2cQyDvmtAcT-lAkdKAK1M6NROcEmRVZRbqJO-id4DwCX3UiX5m0LZXEp7chZXZXgWjntj1StCrC2IiQ4BVfD1CjIpmIDqmVQjNRWVRgbu9jbleeipgLl/w300-h400/Field+ecologist.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We're fortunate in the UK to have good practice guidelines for bat surveys, though interpretation of these can cause challenges. S</span><span style="font-family: arial;">urveys inevitably require numbers of surveyors and ways of sourcing these include:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Teams of fully qualified ecologists, usually in larger companies.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Office staff and other professionals, given task-specific training.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Sub-contractors.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Division of a survey into several segments, allowing two or three surveyors to complete it over several nights.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Recruitment of a specific team of specially-trained seasonal field ecologists.</span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Many smaller regional companies like ourselves use sub-contractors. Our experience of this was that it led to inconsistencies in equipment used, levels of experience or training and the quality and accuracy of data recording. Some consultancies achieve excellent standards using sub-contractors, but it wasn't for us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Our approach to emergence and re-entry surveys is a little different to that practised by many consultancies. The ‘standard’ approach involves each surveyor working individually to watch their section of the subject structure and record what they see, whilst making a digital record of the bat calls heard, allowing for later analysis. Whilst this approach is widely used, we identified several potential weaknesses with it:</span></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">When surveyors are asked to record their own data they are forced to take their eyes away from the subject structure for perhaps 30 seconds each time they wish to note anything down (some consultancies use digital audio recorders to avoid this problem). As a non-breeding roost may only contain one-or two animals this may lead to roosts being missed.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Writing down notes also requires artificial light at times, resulting in degradation of the surveyors’ night vision for five minutes or more.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Even the most diligent of surveyors may lose focus without some degree of supervision and encouragement during a two hour survey.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">As each segment of the subject structure is effectively surveyed separately, it can be challenging to link movements of bats around the site.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Recreating the entire survey at a later date, based on several sets of notes and recordings is an excellent opportunity for error and misunderstanding to creep in.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">It is challenging for the ecologist in charge of the survey to gain a full and broad understanding of the progress of the survey if they also have to focus on one specific section of the building themselves.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">If something arises during the survey, which without attention would limit the survey results, for example equipment failure, disturbance by members of the public etc. the ecologist in charge is poorly-placed to react and limit the impact if they are tied to one survey location.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Individual surveyors may feel isolated and gain little from the experience.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">To address these concerns and improve our own standards of survey work we implemented our own approach in 2007 and have continually fine-tuned it ever since.</span></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">One key difference in our approach is that we deploy a lead ecologist who is usually a licensed bat-worker and who is additional to the surveyors needed to visualise all the relevant parts of the surveyed structure. This may seem profligate, but it allows the lead surveyor to do a much better job of managing the survey:</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">The lead ecologist is able to build up a full picture of the survey, avoidiong the need to decipher lots of notes at a later date.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">They are equipped with a bat detector with live sonogram display, allowing many uncertain bat calls to be identified there and then, reducing the amount of post-survey analysis required.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Supervision of the team is continuous, as the lead ecologist moves around the site, responding to problems, dealing with members of the public. This gives an enhanced level of safety and ensures each surveyor is part of the team.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">The lead ecologist is able to spend time with each surveyor, developing their knowledge and ensuring that they gain in experience from every survey.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A further point of difference is our method of communication. Field ecologists are trained not to take their eyes off the structure they are surveying and do not take any notes. Each is equipped with a personal radio and all bat activity is communicated to the lead ecologist using this. Not only does this reduce the risk of roosts being missed, it allows the lead ecologist to build an understanding of the entire survey as it happens, so that any shortfalls or concerns can be immediately addressed. All notes are then taken by the lead ecologist (or by an additional field ecologist at especially busy or complex sites).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Communicating survey data by radio means that all surveyors are aware of everything that is happening during the survey. This assists with remaining focused through a quiet survey and further enhances the survey as a learning opportunity. It also allows individual surveyors to efficiently link bat activity they see with that seen by other surveyors. For example, the risk of confusion between bats emerging from a complex roof structure and those overflying it is reduced. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Sadly, it is never possible to separate bat consultancy work from the reality that we operate in a competitive industry and costs are important. It may seem that having an additional person on each survey is an untenable additional cost and is likely that many clients would be unwilling to pay for this. We do not factor this in when costing work. Better to accept a lower profit margin but be satisfied that we are delivering the very best standards of survey we are able to. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">We find that, with our approach the amount of ‘post-game analysis’ necessary after each survey is significantly reduced, as less de-ciphering of notes and analysis of recorded calls is required. This saving goes a long way towards balancing any additional cost.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I am not suggesting that our approach to emergence and re-entry survey is the best or ‘right’ way to conduct them. Each consultancy must develop their own approach, based on the resources available to them, the economic framework in which they operate and the scale and complexity of the surveys they carry out. However, good practice can only be good practice when it is openly shared and discussed. Our approach has been developed and fine-tuned over fourteen years and works very well for us. I hope it may be of use to others in helping to form their own approach to these surveys.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-22000952810932891022021-08-21T12:48:00.000+01:002021-08-21T12:48:35.410+01:00Looking after your bat detector - guest blog by Andrew Dobson<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Andrew Dobson is the UK face of Titley Scientific, the company which makes the Anabat range of bat detectors. I've known Andrew for over a decade and every time I meet him he always has some useful tip, or else a sad tale of us non-engineering ecologists ill-treating his beloved equipment. I persuaded him to distil some of these hints into a guest blog for us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL7ybwiLE4VgbdX4j2Oa0VSWLblzRTBo2de1r6l_mxKzESfpGig_QPa7xqQqaBGouWJSXfiW4RAWx-P3Oxws0Y-ksEkDbwZa5YYZgumZ4L47jgYVKh6XeLQoWIlkY4_8bPvl9lAwghVxPZ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="478" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL7ybwiLE4VgbdX4j2Oa0VSWLblzRTBo2de1r6l_mxKzESfpGig_QPa7xqQqaBGouWJSXfiW4RAWx-P3Oxws0Y-ksEkDbwZa5YYZgumZ4L47jgYVKh6XeLQoWIlkY4_8bPvl9lAwghVxPZ/w400-h300/image.png" width="400" /></a></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Deploying a remote download system back in 2013</i></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;">8 years ago, I found myself taking over Titley Scientific UK & European distribution, selling and servicing Anabat bat detectors. After emigrating to Australia in 2007, it was 2012 and time to come back to the UK - especially with the arrival of a new baby. Around this time, Titley Scientific was being taken over by the Australian company I worked for. They needed someone in the UK to look after things and I thought to myself, ‘why not?’ Moving to Australia in the first place was a massive risk, hence, coming back with a job opportunity this time was hard to refuse. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">By this point, I had almost 20 years experience in electronics. Fortunately, this meant fixing Anabat bat detectors was relatively straightforward for me, just slightly different to work I had done before. As comfortable I may be with anything electronically related, I will admit that I am no salesman. Personally, I do not really believe people working with this equipment need a ‘shiny salesman’, but more of an honest and genuine person who tries their best. People like Chris Corben and Richard Crompton were around well before me, promoting all things Anabat. From this, the community was already aware of Titley products, which gave us the best chance of succeeding. In fact, everything was there for me. The only shortfall I could see was the technical expertise needed in the UK and hopefully I filled that gap.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Since starting, I have had some amazing experiences all over Europe and met many amazing people. In particular, I remember being in a cave in Portugal, where was told to close my mouth if I did not want bat pee in my mouth! This was definitely a highlight for me. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Like any career serving people, I have had the odd difficult customer or made the odd mistake, but in general I think I have done well. I try my best and most people appreciate that. Chris Corben is the brains behind the original Anabat kit and is still working hard to help along with the team in Brisbane. Chris cannot help enough and I will always be grateful for his help. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Within a few weeks of starting, I found “David’s Bat Blog”, and decided to make contact. David was a friendly and welcoming contact, so I gravitated to his hospitality. Back in 2013, we deployed a remote download system and solar panel near him, which recorded bats all year round – I never quite managed to get a go in his glider but hopefully there is still time for that :-) </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">8 years in and I have probably taken apart more bat detectors than most, so when David asked for a guest blog post it made sense to try and make it useful and talk about what I know (not bats!). Here are some pointers to help folk care for their field kit and avoid common errors: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Disclaimer: I only work on Titley products, but in general all bat detectors on the market need a sensitive microphone element and run on batteries, so this info is useful for most bat detectors regardless of brand. Also, the vast majority of units sold do not fail, I am only talking about a very small number. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Batteries </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5efEijIGZ03lSpSMYLkeCpthyphenhyphenOFBjjFUfVI_lZ5TPtWjEx4n9dcgRIitgbx852acUL6avVmnjXeB8UACydWAzE133zwEwtYpT1kO_Lmt6F_hcpkiNZHqfpLbh_lx2mbkJCif91EjLmY0/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="483" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5efEijIGZ03lSpSMYLkeCpthyphenhyphenOFBjjFUfVI_lZ5TPtWjEx4n9dcgRIitgbx852acUL6avVmnjXeB8UACydWAzE133zwEwtYpT1kO_Lmt6F_hcpkiNZHqfpLbh_lx2mbkJCif91EjLmY0/" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Leaking alkaline batteries and resulting damage in an Anabat Express</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Alkaline batteries leak, that is pretty much it. If you
would like to use them then that is always the risk. This is mainly due to
being run flat, left in kit or get too hot. Electrolyte comes out and eats
everything it its path. SD1’s were forever coming back with heavy corrosion. I
soon found out people thought leaving them with AA’s in all winter was a good
idea as it prolonged the life of the clock battery. This is, in fact, the
absolute worst thing to do, as they eventually run flat and leak. There was
some myth that leaving them would prolong the clock battery, but this is only
true if the unit is turned on. Now we have the Anabat Swift, this has amazing
battery life and can work on 4 or 8 AA’s. The downside is, if you fit 8 AAs and
have just one the wrong way, it will work fine due to the voltage still being
within the correct range, but that one alkaline fitted backwards leaks
immediately and can really damage the detector.</span></p><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you must use Alkalines, here are some musts!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: arial;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Check
and double check they are fitted in the correct orientation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: arial;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Take
them out when not in use. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: arial;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Avoid
the pack of 40 that are unbelievably cheap. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"> You can even see what
the battery voltage is in the menu, so maybe its worth spending a few seconds
checking its around 12v with new batteries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">I recommend Eneloop rechargeables where possible, and to
clean the contacts with a pencil eraser from time to time. If you cannot get
Eneloop, stick with well-known brands. Why risk buying “amazing value sponsored
batteries” that Amazon are trying to push on you? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Microphones</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">By definition, microphones are delicate sensors that convert
sound waves into an electronic signal.
Pointing one of these to the sky for 6 months in all weather, and
expecting it to be consistently sensitive from start to finish is probably a
mistake! All manufacturers say, “weatherproof/waterproof”, but also caveat that
with, “avoid something or other”. In my experience, it is best to avoid all
rain to get the most out of them. Obviously, this is not always possible, so
pointing away from prevailing weather and slightly down (omnidirectional mics
pick sound up from all around anyway) is your best bet. Water building up on
the microphone will also block the sound from getting through until it dries out,
so your recording quality will suffer. Make sure you read and follow any
microphone care instructions provided with your equipment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Corrosion </b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Most passive detectors (the type that you leave out in the
field) are now waterproof, so prevent wetness getting inside. This generally
means they are pretty good at preventing moisture getting out as well (some now
have vents for this). Opening them in the pouring rain, then getting the inside
wet and closing the waterproof case traps the moisture inside. This is when it
can go to work corroding everything, but mainly the power connections, as they
can get slightly warmer than elsewhere. Active detectors (the type you use
while carrying around) are generally not waterproof and care should be taken to
avoid getting them wet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>SD cards</b><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">They get old and slow, then slow detectors down and cause
issues. It helps to re-format them from time to time. For tiny zero crossing files this is usually not an issue, but full spectrum .wav files are 1000 times
bigger, so speed is king. Go with class 10 and a write speed of over 120mb/s.
Also, never EVER use those horrible micro SD cards in those crappy holders, you
are introducing another dozen tiny connections that can fail! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>It’s not working</b><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">If it is not working, unfastening, or responding to your presses;
generally using 10 times more force is not the answer. If the microphone does
not unscrew, it is probably not a good idea to use enormous pliers. When things
do not work as normal, just give it a few seconds and try again. Maybe even
take the batteries out, give it a few minutes and try again. Bat detector
manufacturers do not have the resources of Apple or Samsung, but will always
help you to get issues sorted out as soon as possible. With bat detectors,
generally check for firmware updates at the start of every season, unless the
product is brand new. You could also subscribe to email notifications for
firmware updates where possible (Titley does this).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Service in Winter</b><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Requesting your kit to be checked or serviced the day before
the season starts does not help anyone. Particularly, since, whoever is
servicing them probably already has plenty of work to do. Sending kits to be
serviced in winter gives plenty time to have them looked at and fixed. They can
also have their alkaline batteries that were left inside since September
removed and disposed of.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Respect your kit</b><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s that simple, just look after it. Store it in a dry
place at room temperature, keep it clean and take batteries out when not in use.
After use, if the case & mic are wet, leave it open with the mic still
fitted for a day or two if possible. If it comes to the point you need to
return something, wrap it accordingly – couriers like to damage things! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hopefully, that helps a little to get the most out of your
kit and save yourself some money in repairs. Each new product we release has
improvements on the last, so progress is being made to help. Our latest will be
the Chorus, which is our entry level passive detector. Its design builds further
on our years of experience making and servicing bat detectors.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6hhJC1hQJs4MqhyphenhyphenK1ozf8-yujq-sp2BmlOlsIWS10aQ8ipgEAp03X-XjCcCDLumfc5x1stG_791JWGPpH5aSo1-qsuO9DdXyxVimNrAwhtTVBd3e3D_pNhoAEL1B31yRJuVIe-HEyLbs/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="328" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6hhJC1hQJs4MqhyphenhyphenK1ozf8-yujq-sp2BmlOlsIWS10aQ8ipgEAp03X-XjCcCDLumfc5x1stG_791JWGPpH5aSo1-qsuO9DdXyxVimNrAwhtTVBd3e3D_pNhoAEL1B31yRJuVIe-HEyLbs/w348-h400/image.png" width="348" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The new Titley Chorus bat detector & acoustic recorder</i></span></span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TitleyScientific" target="_blank">Titley Scientific on Facebook</a><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.titley-scientific.com/uk/contact-us" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Titley Scientific website</span></a><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Andrew has kindly lent me a prototype Chorus to try out - I'll post some thoughts about it very soon.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></p></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-12795767088229107932021-08-13T15:36:00.004+01:002021-08-21T12:40:32.746+01:00Whither goes woodcrete? A new source of robust bat-boxes<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgonorvgQV349bhlBk4bqgtK8qEX1Buaoy77xZ7CMTO1outzEV9qfg963nac2RtyeWzi2Ho3MPK7biG2I3Tnr5QNaeBWmk9ai89Vz15ocyBDrg8vpVO3UUymfTFW25xevXzaVtA0Zhz7nig/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="394" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgonorvgQV349bhlBk4bqgtK8qEX1Buaoy77xZ7CMTO1outzEV9qfg963nac2RtyeWzi2Ho3MPK7biG2I3Tnr5QNaeBWmk9ai89Vz15ocyBDrg8vpVO3UUymfTFW25xevXzaVtA0Zhz7nig/w300-h400/image.png" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>A Lunar Environmental bat box</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Image copyright Lunar Environmental)</span></i></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">I've long been an advocate of woodcrete or woodstone bat boxes (the terms appear to be interchangeable, though may be trademarks for all I know). German-made Schwegler bat boxes have been around for many years, in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, have become pretty much the standard for good quality bat boxes and are widely used.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Moulded of a wood-fibre and cement mix, these boxes have better insulation than more traditional wooden boxes and a much longer life-span. Unlike wooden boxes, which rarely last much more than a decade (poorer ones often rot even more quickly), these last pretty much forever, unless some brat decides to lob half-bricks at them - they tend to break if a direct hit is scored - so they're an ideal solution for mitigation/compensation schemes. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNjnutQ8c25xh_p9nMOok8bViYBZuNMchyphenhyphenwDpvd3_R_IDKCFfg0dHgQudxUYqWCVobVgj7ioTsbvF8vNYgir41JK7neQos1gG6fzyAcj_8cXQI6Bl4XwWm1LuFfJ8wRwbX8UxiRmoFhdv/s2048/20160219_094453.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNjnutQ8c25xh_p9nMOok8bViYBZuNMchyphenhyphenwDpvd3_R_IDKCFfg0dHgQudxUYqWCVobVgj7ioTsbvF8vNYgir41JK7neQos1gG6fzyAcj_8cXQI6Bl4XwWm1LuFfJ8wRwbX8UxiRmoFhdv/w400-h225/20160219_094453.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Some Schwegler boxes, destined for a development site several years ago</span></i></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>The weakness of Schwegler boxes has always been their price. At about £35 for the simplest type (2F), which Blue tits can find their way into, and about £15 more for ones with a wooden baffle (2F-DFP), which discourages the blue and yellow feather-rats, they're not cheap. However, the cost is mitigated by their higher take-up rate - I've often found them to have two or three times the occupancy level of wooden boxes, probably aided by their better insulation properties and consequent slower changes in internal temperature.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So what's not to like? Nothing, except that they disappeared off the market several years ago. All the suppliers still list them, but are perpetually out of stock. I've heard numerous claims that this has been caused by a fire at the factory, problems with raw materials, Brexit, massive demand elsewhere in Europe etc. Whatever the cause, you simply can't get them. So what to do?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">CJ Wildlife sell a Vivara Pro bat box, made from a similar material. Their price point is much more reasonable than the Schwegler boxes, at around £20-25. But </span><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm not a huge fan of these - they are less robust than the Schwegler products and have to be mounted using a rather feeble attachment, which does not inspire confidence and makes it impossible to hammer a nail in and bend it over (my preferred way of attaching a box to a tree, to prevent is blowing down in winter). In fairness I haven't seen one fail...yet.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> They also look a bit like a twee bird-house, but that probably bothers me much more than it would a bat!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQUiitLcpr16GY0D85td8aWRxpa2MWvVFOjGU_w0IJ64evmNxnm3NXmW1ao09HWp0Z2e0ARxLxLmGLQRWYBtLr0O8xcgTn6Y6WYXGM5u2SKPSErNbGgC-zlREDiAhbnkogu1JsoIfK3toi/s2048/20191104_094537440_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQUiitLcpr16GY0D85td8aWRxpa2MWvVFOjGU_w0IJ64evmNxnm3NXmW1ao09HWp0Z2e0ARxLxLmGLQRWYBtLr0O8xcgTn6Y6WYXGM5u2SKPSErNbGgC-zlREDiAhbnkogu1JsoIfK3toi/w400-h300/20191104_094537440_iOS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Two Vivara pro boxes, in position</span></i></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So for the last couple of years I've been using Vivara Pro boxes and hoping that Schwegler would sort themselves out. But now I've found an alternative that I'm rather impressed with. And they're based in Scotland. Given that these things are pretty heavy, carbon footprint is a factor.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Lunar Environmental, a small firm based in Aberdeenshire, are moulding their own woodcrete boxes and selling them direct. What's more their price-point is good, with a micro box at £25 and a macro one at £35. The macro is 31cm tall and 15cm diameter, whilst the micro is 26cm tall and 10cm diamter. The boxes do not have an openable door, but instead have a sloping floor, leading to an entrance slot in the base, making them self-cleaning. They have a curved back, helping them to sit against a tree-trunk, but seem to work ok mounted on a wall as well. T</span><span style="font-family: arial;">he attachment is a loop of rust-proof cable, moulded into the top of the box.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1BaM9EACVD3PB5z5Qt0ddH07n7MBBgd-1teDE3Jc91lrnK68uKwRIgCVVWsKShGiu6rMZF_qsdNF9qCuw2t0tR0eljZYvM2nOovs97ka2Ows2KddBQgFs-v6Pj9kbJgilogeWu32yFIR/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="470" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1BaM9EACVD3PB5z5Qt0ddH07n7MBBgd-1teDE3Jc91lrnK68uKwRIgCVVWsKShGiu6rMZF_qsdNF9qCuw2t0tR0eljZYvM2nOovs97ka2Ows2KddBQgFs-v6Pj9kbJgilogeWu32yFIR/w400-h388/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Dimensions and internal shape of the Lunar boxes </span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">(Image copyright Lunar Environmental)</span></i></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I really like these boxes - they have a solid, well-made feel. Kevin Wright not only understands bats, he also worked in concrete moulding in a previous career and has been able to combine these two disparate skill-sets. What I really like is that he's thinking about the product and how to perfect it. Interestingly, these boxes have a lower wood content than the other types on the market and use vermiculite instead, to enhance the insulation properties of the boxes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUqdT1YXb6bRcW2QJKhPWXSKeOq0NVxwZByAyyUtUXUOaUr4WyudLUfTeUCVjESBxj2Yi2g6dz6rm-riOCZXIFZX10ce4Iqe1NDbjILF2W4uQUa3SFzwqX_eOaPsGK1Zo3Sx62eDUERJ-/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUqdT1YXb6bRcW2QJKhPWXSKeOq0NVxwZByAyyUtUXUOaUr4WyudLUfTeUCVjESBxj2Yi2g6dz6rm-riOCZXIFZX10ce4Iqe1NDbjILF2W4uQUa3SFzwqX_eOaPsGK1Zo3Sx62eDUERJ-/w240-h320/image0.jpeg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbOpvfTPgJ4Yr76gylnDjWkOdRRuBJOaJEllk2Df0hRCKU3JpACkYIC2ffCbclkhWe0qihKaQYBQn7LDotCiUH9FaZ_zKItHA_2Eh0QHXFnzsq7gs1LeUzVGBR2iRkv4lPIm3jZj-rU0Zm/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbOpvfTPgJ4Yr76gylnDjWkOdRRuBJOaJEllk2Df0hRCKU3JpACkYIC2ffCbclkhWe0qihKaQYBQn7LDotCiUH9FaZ_zKItHA_2Eh0QHXFnzsq7gs1LeUzVGBR2iRkv4lPIm3jZj-rU0Zm/w240-h320/image1.jpeg" width="240" /></a><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the Lunar boxes, mounted on the gable end of my house</span></i></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Incidentally, they also make bespoke boxes. Kevin is currently working on a batch of crevice bricks for me, for an artificial hibernaculum project we're working on. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So, if you need a batch of boxes for a project, I'd suggest giving Lunar a try. </span></p><p><a href="https://www.lunarenvironmental.co.uk/our-bat-boxes" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Lunar Environmental</b></span></a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-90350056631533195592021-08-07T21:34:00.003+01:002021-08-07T21:34:54.110+01:00The bat identification song (with apologies)<p><span style="font-family: arial;">For everyone who has ever peered myopically through a hand-lens at a small, wriggling, angry bat by the light of a failing head-torch I bring you... <b>the bat identification song.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjDQ9CgMSSREyVUN4scQ_eimVXEQ8rB-aF9Gp0MOY6sdULRLZT2h9Pesyv-FHHWhSARs6cYx9p0X3pVQN-gEZ7n2VN-rBNX2i7jLJF6HUs2wIDxQ65dZLuJadTc1TkLQeYZaMLB8QOQln/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="1016" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjDQ9CgMSSREyVUN4scQ_eimVXEQ8rB-aF9Gp0MOY6sdULRLZT2h9Pesyv-FHHWhSARs6cYx9p0X3pVQN-gEZ7n2VN-rBNX2i7jLJF6HUs2wIDxQ65dZLuJadTc1TkLQeYZaMLB8QOQln/w400-h283/image.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">To the tune of "My favourite things" from "The Sounds of Music".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>All together now...</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ridges on noses and hairy wee calcars,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Pale furry bellies and separated ears,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Varied veination on Pipistrelle wings<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">These are a few of my bat ID things.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Lobes beyond calcars and mushroom-shaped tragus,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Bulbous bat willies and horseshoe-shaped faces,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Measured thumb length beside London Zoo rings, <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">These are a few of my bat ID things.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">When I don’t know,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">When I can’t tell,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">When I’m feeling thick,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">I simply remember these bat ID things,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And they usually do the trick. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Digital callipers and Pesola scales,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Finger-end tragi and extended tails,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Pelage that’s golden-brown, chocolate or grey,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">These make the bat ID blues go away.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Fur that is shaggy and ears that are lengthy,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Pinkish bare faces and feet that are hairy,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Losing the will to work out what it could be,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Maybe these things will be helpful to me.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">When I’m fed up,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">When I’m unsure,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">When it’s just not clear<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And all I can do has simply gone flat,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ll declare that the wretched creature’s… a bat!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With profuse apologies to Julie Andrews, to Rogers and Hammerstein and especially to you, if someone has just sung this to you!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-70437208961785745472021-08-05T20:43:00.004+01:002021-08-07T21:13:38.573+01:00The bat aviators of Portmoak airfield<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>You might think that flying a glider would have little to do with bats, but there are interesting comparisons to be made between man-made aircraft and bat morphology!</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>I fly at the Scottish Gliding Centre at Portmoak, near Kinross. In an articel I recently wrote for the club newsletter I compared the various bat species found on the airfield with types of aircraft in use. To help it make sense to a non-aviation audience I've added some footnotes and photos of the gliders described.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Apparently, Portmoak is the second busiest airfield in Scotland, after Prestwick. Unlike Prestwick, we only fly in daylight, but did you know Portmoak is home to another group of skilled aviators, for whom IFR flight </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(1</span><span style="font-family: arial;">) i</span><span style="font-family: arial;">s the norm? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">My day job is as a consultant ecologist, specialising in working with bats and several years ago I and a group of students spent some time studying the bats who make the airfield their home. We erected bat boxes around the workshop and caravan site to encourage bats to roost, set up passive acoustic monitors to record their calls and spent several nights using a large ‘harp trap’ to catch bats in flight (and release them afterwards). The outcome of this is that we now know that five bat species hunt around the airfield for the insect prey at night, one of them rare. They use ultrasonic echolocation to navigate and find their prey in the dark.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1HWyJ6lIEOoP95_-XGRE6kpGw4PaK1HBeQc-SFkjgBjGMHn7xjowhopio9QpaPgUY1tcAt7vxyGYU_mym9-MwgTNMJWB60zKsqhVjz4-wW3-3kuoIR9BlbOo4tdypg236Z0W_HQtV8GD/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="391" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1HWyJ6lIEOoP95_-XGRE6kpGw4PaK1HBeQc-SFkjgBjGMHn7xjowhopio9QpaPgUY1tcAt7vxyGYU_mym9-MwgTNMJWB60zKsqhVjz4-wW3-3kuoIR9BlbOo4tdypg236Z0W_HQtV8GD/w400-h331/image.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><p style="text-align: center;"><i>The 'Goliath' harp trap in place at Portmoak airfield, with Bishop Hill in the background.</i></p></i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The UK’s two commonest bat species are very similar (it was only in the 1990s that they were realised to be separate species) - the Common and Soprano Pipistrelle both hunt around the trees at the edges of the airfield and at the workshops. Think of these as the Schleicher K21s of the bat world (2) – widespread generalists with dependable, middle of the road flight characteristics. Like the K21, if anything is flying it’s probably one of them. Unlike the K21 they do us the service of hoovering up 2-3,000 midges each per night.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNlb1TPkEcV6D2GtjHRrKAbSPgySoyJgzoKUXJ9z9Tj-CGr01_9Lmt8eg5p-BeB7kdRCkijOQeYDmvUpRcbho9HyGKtXhJRyVEMbhKJXRmUnMPfP61Ez9PqQfFLS8gzhTgWJld4JUsr-8/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="387" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNlb1TPkEcV6D2GtjHRrKAbSPgySoyJgzoKUXJ9z9Tj-CGr01_9Lmt8eg5p-BeB7kdRCkijOQeYDmvUpRcbho9HyGKtXhJRyVEMbhKJXRmUnMPfP61Ez9PqQfFLS8gzhTgWJld4JUsr-8/w400-h225/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">A Soprano pipistrelle, expressing some strong opinions</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrO_DLg3WTsYDNlXkIcbVf3AtVunHojsSxc0Zbto4OgewTZc4oFc-b2EVRZalhmO4ZesI7RmQ2R5Go3hMzCau6Hr3530h_pGyIwI7deW5xA64FEU9TDlpyE3hKIOuTaHgF2AvlLTWZ9lUo/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrO_DLg3WTsYDNlXkIcbVf3AtVunHojsSxc0Zbto4OgewTZc4oFc-b2EVRZalhmO4ZesI7RmQ2R5Go3hMzCau6Hr3530h_pGyIwI7deW5xA64FEU9TDlpyE3hKIOuTaHgF2AvlLTWZ9lUo/" width="400" /></a></div><br />A K-21, a reliable and ever-present training glider, the Pipistrelle of the gliding world. </span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: arial;">(photo credit Alexander Schleicher GmbH)</i></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The rare species at Portmoak is related to them. The Nathusius’ pipistrelle is usually found near large water bodies and Loch Leven is home to a colony of them, one or two of whom are often to be found hunting above the track beside the caravan park. They often migrate over very long distances to hibernate, so possibly they equate to a Discus Turbo (3) in the hands of one of our cross-country pundits.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Brown Long-eared Bat is also present at Portmoak, hunting amongst the workshop trees and is a bat with very different flight characteristics. As well as ridiculously large ears (so it can listen for insects) it is probably the K-8 (4<i>)</i> of the bat world. It has broad wings and a large tail surface, enabling it to fly very slowly and turn on a sixpence. This enables it to manoeuvre close to vegetation and pluck off insects to eat. Perhaps a step too far for members of the DRV syndicate (5) - bats don’t have to worry about being summoned for a ‘chat’ with the CFI (6).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmWaWdcxVW9iRhKpOnAszEZ7M16ioPaqVbqCcAehXNAWIpN4G_-aTvnQze9silCc_UwmX3H47rZCEP_ASM5k-ZskpjD7FzUPOL37gyT3922LkpbUfIZjEWKAvGc3gGShrTj_0DOhUho3r/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmWaWdcxVW9iRhKpOnAszEZ7M16ioPaqVbqCcAehXNAWIpN4G_-aTvnQze9silCc_UwmX3H47rZCEP_ASM5k-ZskpjD7FzUPOL37gyT3922LkpbUfIZjEWKAvGc3gGShrTj_0DOhUho3r/w400-h300/image.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>G-DDRV, a much-loved K-8 glider - slow and maneuverable</i></div></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A highly specialised species present at Portmoak is the Daubenton’s bat. These are water specialists, hunting low over the Leven Cut for aquatic insects and scooping them from the water’s surface with their feet. I was struggling for a glider comparison, until I recalled that a Slingsby Falcon was fitted with floats during World War II and launched from Windermere by boat-tow. I understand it’s now on show at the Windermere Steamboat Museum.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXWM7iERI6VmE8PWh79In0nNefB7Zg3rdYzx4IXwvZqY8LSr_ja5KftQPXgndXpr4OBldDBUOCTnIm6sg1xML7mgLVFnWdGIvAZBgR8if_yKNgdSJYNCGQ6WaRVHRBeQalUxDCP_SM4GPz/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="390" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXWM7iERI6VmE8PWh79In0nNefB7Zg3rdYzx4IXwvZqY8LSr_ja5KftQPXgndXpr4OBldDBUOCTnIm6sg1xML7mgLVFnWdGIvAZBgR8if_yKNgdSJYNCGQ6WaRVHRBeQalUxDCP_SM4GPz/w400-h275/image.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>A Daubenton's bat, caught at Portmoak</i></div></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">One Scottish bat species we haven’t recorded at Portmoak (it tends to be found mostly south of the Forth-Clyde line) is the Noctule, which is a shame, as I think it would feel at home. It’s Scotland’s largest bat, with a wingspan of 37-40cm, usually found flying high, catching beetles and other large flying insects. A powerful flier, it’s relatively long and narrow wings allow it to fly fast and cover long distances whilst hunting making it a good contender to be the ASH-25 of the bat world (7).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJQKhFFeod3CDAc7eK5tjIF_eMWChAANh2QsGfYQmC2VHvP4etEAF-cL0fEUx_9PH9Vg9n2UkvZznXQ-w3GoyFSq4k-kJmOGUDNQkJe2oYDmqXmuDCkrSBI7cFWdyS15coNGqge-WoikK/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="393" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJQKhFFeod3CDAc7eK5tjIF_eMWChAANh2QsGfYQmC2VHvP4etEAF-cL0fEUx_9PH9Vg9n2UkvZznXQ-w3GoyFSq4k-kJmOGUDNQkJe2oYDmqXmuDCkrSBI7cFWdyS15coNGqge-WoikK/w400-h303/image.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The powerful long wing of a Noctule</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOzndGTnH_GUCXTiW4TAucC35MJCYNF5G83kEgIoO_TxEwsArORdcSrldyRhlYvRGsac3G-LCHceWDTUYLdCKbiZKVlD_uyMZxYKru9N2levWc40uisUkpRc_iBJaC3lX3iHmml4iPFMqR/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1021" data-original-width="1500" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOzndGTnH_GUCXTiW4TAucC35MJCYNF5G83kEgIoO_TxEwsArORdcSrldyRhlYvRGsac3G-LCHceWDTUYLdCKbiZKVlD_uyMZxYKru9N2levWc40uisUkpRc_iBJaC3lX3iHmml4iPFMqR/w400-h272/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><i>Schleicher ASH-25 (photo credit Alexander Schleicher GmbH)</i></div></i></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; text-align: left;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-weight: 700; text-align: left;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Footnotes</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">(1) Instrument flight rules - flying in the dark, fog, cloud etc.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">(2) A very widely-used training glider, with benign handling characteristics. On days when nothing much else is flying there's likely to be one or two trundling around on instructional flights.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">(3) </span><span style="font-family: arial;">A high performance glider, often used for long-distance cross-country flights.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">(4) A</span><span style="font-family: arial;">n old and much-loved glider type, built of plywood and canvas, with broad wings and slow, maneuverable flight.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">(5) G-D</span><span style="font-family: arial;">DRV is a K-8 based at Portmoak and still flown regularly. I own a share in her and on a calm day she's a joy to fly.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">(6) </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Chief Flying Instructor, the person responsible for flight safety and a 'chat' with whom often means you've crossed a line somewhere!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">(7) A</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> very high performance glider - think Lamborghini with wings!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457242314752905580.post-88083195925199634202021-07-26T13:30:00.005+01:002021-08-05T20:42:15.556+01:00The long, slow tedium of an urban bat survey <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGwLeH9eLlxsKh3Zewe8dTqLoNbYlzGVah6NGM_5UNPjy4cnDbPDRvUU9jkAAEyFxMJqNLROkFNHwH8q-Wwnb_Hpv8uIz8BprKpsYJ98QvzdzZQ9WmG4ioR9YP-EJF59MNyf-08u-_pSs/s2274/1CCBB3E4-F804-4D78-8EDB-AFBEA7444B0A.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="2274" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGwLeH9eLlxsKh3Zewe8dTqLoNbYlzGVah6NGM_5UNPjy4cnDbPDRvUU9jkAAEyFxMJqNLROkFNHwH8q-Wwnb_Hpv8uIz8BprKpsYJ98QvzdzZQ9WmG4ioR9YP-EJF59MNyf-08u-_pSs/w400-h154/1CCBB3E4-F804-4D78-8EDB-AFBEA7444B0A.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Concrete and brick, Buddleia and Willow-herb,</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;">Herring gulls shouting, pigeons pompously strutting.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Passers-by enquiring and endlessly pontificating,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Bats utterly absent, hiding from flood-lights.</div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Waiting and wondering, life-force </span><span style="font-family: arial;">slowly waning,</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One brief soprano, commuting somewhere better.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;">Back to silence, except for kids screaming,</div></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;">And traffic and aircraft and trains rattling by.</div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Swirling dust devils and eau de exhaust,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No basis for life, be it human or bat.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A single Common emerges, but not where I am,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Eight surveyors for one lonely bat.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What is the point of this long, tedious vigil?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hankering for castles, barns and forest lodges.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">‘Negative results matter’ someone inevitably says,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There’s nothing for it - resort to radio word games.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: 700;">Keep up to date with the latest posts </span><a href="http://Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog" style="font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Davidsbatblog</a></span></div>David Doddshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08456056626702138784noreply@blogger.com0