Working for Norfolk’s Bats

by Jane Harris and the Norfolk & Norwich Bat Group

(c) Jane Harris/Norfolk & Norwich Bat Group

On March 9^th, Norfolk and Norwich Bat Group held a mini-conference ‘Working for Norfolk’s Bats’ to highlight some of the bat conservation issues of particular importance in the county and to showcase the work of the group. The conference was also designed to show members who were neither consultants nor licensed bat workers, how they could get involved with bat conservation. To achieve these aims, the format was three presentations with half-hourly intervals, during which attendees were encouraged to look at the poster displays and engage with committee members to learn about these opportunities.

The first presentation was on ‘the Barbastelle super-colony’ which is threatened by a major road-building scheme in Norfolk, and was presented by Dr Charlotte Packman who has studied the colony in great detail for five years. Phil Parker gave the second presentation aptly entitled ‘ Norfolk’s churches – are they purpose-built bat roosts’ which stimulated great interest from members keen to survey their local church. Finally, Jane Harris presented ‘Nathusius’ pipistrelle – resident and marathon migrant’ which was a summary of the group’s work on this species and included migration studies using the MOTUS wildlife tracking system.

Poster displays included the National Bat Monitoring Programme, borrowing a bat detector, searching for new hibernation sites, surveying churches, helping with bat walks and events and training to help with emergence surveys and radio-tracking on the barbastelle and Nathusius’ pipistrelle projects.

Feedback was very positive and we hope to build on the success. Furthermore, we raised funds from ticket sales, the raffle and sales of homemade cakes which will help towards a major project to secure and protect one of the county’s best hibernation sites.

(c) Jane Harris/Norfolk & Norwich Bat Group

(c) Jane Harris/Norfolk & Norwich Bat Group

If you would like to know more about UK local bat groups visit this page. 

Volunteer Event Welcome Walk

by Nicky Fish, our Wales Officer for the Woodland Hope Project

With torrential downpours for the week leading up to our first scheduled event of the year (which took place on Sunday, 17th March) it was looking unlikely that we would go ahead but my good ‘ole sundance worked its magic and miraculously it was so warm and sunny I went without my coat!

(c) Elliot Bastos

Ten people joined Elliot (Woodland Hope's Assistant Project Officer) and myself for an introductory meet up and walk at the spectacular Conwy Forest Falls in Snowdonia.

The circular walk around the woods runs down to the deep gorge of the Fairy Glen and is set in 10 acres of Sites of Special Scientific Interest native woodland, so we were able to show the volunteers the typical type of veteran oaks inhabited by the mosses, ferns and lichens that are so special to this area and the Celtic Rainforests that the project will work in over the coming Summer.

On a usual day the waterfall and gorge are pretty spectacular but even more so on this occasion after so much rain; the spray from the colossal waterfall hitting our faces as we walked above. In fact, it was hard to tear the group away from its draw, which enabled me to chat to an elderly couple sitting for a breather on the viewing bench and give them a quick ten minute ‘Bats and Wildlife Gardening’ top tips. They were completely enthralled by this and promised to go home, create a pond and plant lots of native wildflowers to attract moths and other beneficial insects for bats!

After the woodland walk we retired to the Conwy Forest Park Café for refreshments and our volunteers learned about the passive acoustic monitoring methodology and the Audio Moth detectors (and others) we will be using to monitor the Celtic rainforests over the summer and how to use the software to set up and read the results.

We look forward to welcoming the group back in May at one of our rainforest locations once bats have emerged from hibernation for further training and upskilling. 

If you would like to find out more about the Woodland Hope project visit this page.

(c) Nicky Fish

 

St. Michael & All Angels church welcomes bats

by Gillian Halcrow, Churchwarden at St. Michaels & All Angels

St. Michael & All Angels, Withyham in East Sussex is a beautiful, historic country church with the Sackville Chapel and being the resting place in the crypt for the Earls and Dukes of Dorset. Lord and Lady De La Warr are our Patrons.

During renovations in the 1850s wooden ceiling tiles, with stars, were installed in the nave and chancel. The old nails holding these wooden tiles in place were now beginning to disintegrate and one fell a couple of years ago (luckily into an empty church) and others were not looking safe. We had reached a point when these tiles needed to be secured again with modern screws.

We had a trusted builder set to do the job in January 2024 when the thought of BATS came to us with bats and their droppings being seen in the Vestry. With the knowledge that bats are a protected animal, we had to take this seriously.

Initially we approached a company who would investigate whether we had bats but were shocked at the cost. It was suggested that we approach the Bat Conservation Trust, which I quickly did. Their service being free of charge.

From the start we had professional advice. Within a couple of weeks we had a volunteer visit our church with further helpful and friendly advice. She suggested that if we were willing to delay the work until April, being a time when the bats would come out of hibernation and before the new bat babies were born. Then she would recommend that we could go ahead during the month of April. Some weeks later we received a letter from Natural England confirming this.

During this process we have learnt a lot about our bats and feel honoured and protective of them, knowing that they find our roof tiles a safe hibernating place, although they make a mess in the Vestry, we can cope with that! We now feel that our bats are more part of our community!

We have made a donation to the Bat Conservation Trust. Although this is a very expensive job, they have saved us a lot of money initially and have given us a professional service. 

Thank you!

Please note, we rely on the generosity of Natural England’s Volunteer Bat Roost Visitors to undertake free bat surveys. Given the voluntary nature of this service, response times may vary. The statutory written advice received after the survey is personalised and will be dependent on various factors specific to your church. We can only provide advice that falls within the boundaries of the free advice service. Response times between visit and letter may also vary.

To find out more and get personalised advice for your church visit this page. 

Meeting Angela Jones, the Guardian of the River Wye

Angela Jones is an environmental campaigner and a guardian of the nature she finds around her. She spends her days above and below the surface of the River Wye, monitoring and protecting the ecosystems there, which she has been doing for an incredible four decades. Our Species Advocacy and Policy Officer Lil McDermaid interviewed her about her passion for nature.

What do you get up to in the environment near you?

What don't I get up to! I'm out 24/7 really so I monitor the aquatic life, I monitor the local otters, I have a bat detector, I sleep on the banks. Everything really, it goes without saying. You do it naturally without even knowing that you do it. I test the water, I train up volunteers to test the water. I have trained hundreds of volunteers over the years and set up many river groups around the country. We have had severe pollution problems in our rivers which is having a devastating effect on all wildlife. The ammonia from intensive poultry units has also had a devastating effect on our ancient woodlands.  I'm just very in tune with everything around me and I'm very connected with the nature.

When did this passion for the environment start?

I get that question all the time and it never started. I have two children and when I gave birth to those children, I vowed always to protect them and I always do the same to my surroundings and environment automatically. I don't see anything else - it's like cleaning your teeth every day. It's something you do and all the campaigning I do nobody can ever knock down because they know there is no ulterior motive to me.

At the Bat Conservation Trust, we obviously tend to gravitate towards bat stories. How would you describe your relationship with your local bat populations?

Absolutely adore them! My favourite thing I do, at least through the winter, even when I was a child I used to do this, I've always slept out on the banks of the river where the bat colonies are. I night swim maybe two/three times a week. I slip into the water and I know where the bats are and I share that beauty with them. I can't think of anything more beautiful and you know where the roosts are and they start skimming around. I do night kayaking too in certain sections and they come swooping through and it's just beautiful. There's one particular part where I sleep out where the caves are and it's just wonderful. It's a delight and your heart warms because you know when people get excited by Christmas lights? I always get excited when I see the bats.

It is great to hear that you are so involved in monitoring your local wildlife, including bats! Have you got any experiences you would like to share from seeing the wildlife in one area change over the course of many years?

Yes so I sleep in caves as well. And in the Wye Valley, there's one particular cave I've been going into and sleeping in for 30 odd years with no lights, really quiet and lie down in a bivvy bag, and we used to have greater horseshoes in the lower chamber and I never went in that chamber.

 Everyone seems to be adventure people now so 40 years ago I was eccentric but now I'm fashionable because of all of these [people] coming into the wild side and I'm happy to share but we need respect.

In this one cave, people are sleeping in the cave but going into the chamber where the horseshoes are and lighting fires so we've lost that whole colony in there. But really it's a circle of life and for us to get the benefits, we should protect the house and wealth of nature; it complements our health and there's a big gap missing in that. I teach them how to respect nature and the environment, to have that enjoyment and that whole circle, and then my business funds test kits for volunteers to test the water. It's people thinking 'I'll do adventure, I'll go out' but they haven't got the connection with the nature there and it's so important that they have that. We can become guardians of the outdoors just by respecting it.

What causes have you spoken up for/campaigned on recently?

The rivers, the salmon and the otters. I was at Defra when the State of Nature report came out and gave them in a letter. BCT were there too so I had a good chat with them. I campaign tirelessly, have spoken at Westminster four times in the last twelve months, given evidence at Westminster, made lots of national programmes and been part of BBC Panorama. There was a court case against the Environment Agency by River Action to hold Defra to account. My fingers are in many pies. Aggression doesn't bring progression but longevity and persistence does.

Do you have any tips for people who are looking to become more involved in speaking up for their local area, especially through volunteering?

I would look to see if there's any Facebook groups out there already set up. Locally here, I'm part of the Save the Swifts group and Save the Otters and I founded Save the River Usk group and I have spent 6 years on the Save the Wye group. Sometimes there's a group already set up but maybe if there isn't one, ping it out on social media.

The other thing I have is an app on my phone called the iNaturalist app so when I see wildlife I try to quickly take a photo so it logs it and can monitor it and put in a big database. When you put your photo in, you can get information on the species and it might be a blade of grass or a butterfly or a bird of prey. You can also see where it has been seen before and a little bit about it. I used to carry a little book with this information and I love the idea of having that. I just came back from the Orkney Islands and I saw basking sharks and it was so nice to identify them and log them with the other people who had seen them as well. You can look back on your data as well and it's simplistic but it feeds the imagination and makes that wildlife so much more interesting because you've got a little bit of information about it.

When you go out, a lot of people walk but they have blinkers on. But drop the blinkers and just absorb where you are, and there's always something fascinating going on. I remember there was a person who used a wheelchair who had a 3ft by 3ft garden path and a micro camera so you don't need a mountain nearby to find nature but it's fascinating how the wildlife adapts.

What has been your favourite experience with bats?

I absolutely adore bats. It's got to be night swimming and getting in the river just before dusk and the flow of the water on your skin and the crispness of it and when the bats come out and start taking the insects. The first thing I look for when it gets to dusk is the amount of insects in a place. Most people think 'oh no, gnats!' but I think 'oh great - there's an excellent food source for bats!'. When the bats all start coming out it's so exciting and they all scoop so close and I have such massive hair I think they're going to get stuck if they get any closer!

What one message would you have for policymakers when it comes to the environment?

If you stripped everybody bare of all they have in life, we all have one mother nature. It's not all about self-gain and greed, it's way, way bigger than that and if we haven't got a good environment and nature around us, we've got nothing.

My careers officer asked what I wanted to do when I left school and I said I wanted a life of seeing nature and adventure. I am a Gemini and dyslexic and I see things black and white so I see things and I do them. I live outdoors all the time, I'm never unwell, and never unhappy apart from when I see awful things happening in the environment.

People always ask me what are you hiding from because I'm always outdoors and always enjoying wildlife. I find that a really strange question because when you truly know yourself and are connected, you have a most wonderful peaceful feeling within yourself. I'm the most connected person you could possibly meet. It's weird how people think it's the norm to not be connected or in tune. I was showing a lady the aquatic life in a river and she was asking if I ever wonder about my safety. Wildlife and nature never give me a problem but it's only tricky when you bring humans into the situation.

To find out more about Angela visit her website here.

Glue Traps Offences Act 2022

by Aaron Pardo, Founder of Wild Youth

In my previous article regarding glue traps for the Bat Conservation Trust, I concluded with the inspiring words of Eduardo Galeons, who once said, 'Many small people, in small places, doing small things can change the world’. It brings me immense pleasure to announce that after two years, the Glue Traps Offences Act of 2022 has been officially passed. I could not be more proud of the tireless efforts and unwavering commitment everyone involved in this campaign demonstrated. 

Bat stuck to fly paper
(c) Daniel Hargreaves

Glue Traps are a form of pest control designed to catch rodents or insects using an adhesive. The figure on the right illustrates how the traps in question are indiscriminate in nature, capturing all animals that encounter it. The lack of selectivity in the trapping mechanism raised ethical concerns and underscored the need for more humane and sustainable wildlife management methods. Since witnessing first had the devasting effects, I made it my mission to advocate for the prohibition of these devices in the United Kingdom. Initially, I undertook the advocacy of a petition to criminalise glue traps. Despite this and the creation of an Early Day Motion (EDM 1477), these efforts proved to be largely ineffectual, thus necessitating the need for further action. 

I established a non-profit organisation with the aim of promoting the petition and engaging with influential Members of Parliament to further this cause. As a consequence of our collaborative endeavors, the petition garnered a staggering 42,000 signatures and, at one juncture, was the swiftest escalating petition in the UK. 

Extract from the
Glue Traps Offences Act 2022 

The campaign witnessed colossal growth and gained the attention of notable personalities. Parliament was forced into a position to respond to these developments. Jane Stevenson, member of Parliament for Wolverhampton East, introduced a private members bill to the House of Commons concerning the use of glue traps. The Bill successfully passed through the public policy stages and was introduced as the ‘Glue Traps Offences Act 2022’. Clauses 1.1 and 1.2 render the use of such devices as an offence: 

‘Offences relating to glue traps in England 

1. 

(1) A person who sets a glue trap in England for the purpose of catching a rodent commits an offence. 

(2) A person who sets a glue trap in England in a manner which gives rise to a risk that a rodent will become caught in the glue trap commits an offence.’ 

(UK Parliament , 2022) 

This development represents a noteworthy achievement in the realm of animal rights and welfare while also serving as a testament to the persuasive impact of social media on public policy. Our efforts have been widespread and devolved governments have responded by also making Glue traps Illegal. In Wales, glue traps were made criminalised under the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023 and respectively in Scotland under the Wildlife Management and Murirburn (Scotland) Bill. 

On a personal note, I have been inspired to pursue a career in the animal rights policy sector. The passion to positively impact animals' lives has motivated me to explore opportunities in this field. 2024 will be a huge year for my charity called Wild Youth (Former Animal Rights UK) as we strive to become the largest youth-led animal rights charity. Our recent campaign on glue traps has yielded great success, and now, it is time to shift our focus to a new campaign, animal testing within the UK. Despite technological advancements and alternative methods, it is disheartening that animal testing still occurs in the UK. We look forward to the support and cooperation of our stakeholders in this crucial endeavour and encourage everyone to watch this space! 

Walking with bats

Album cover provided by Deadbeat Creative Company, Northern Ireland

What does it sound like to go bat detecting, and how can we convey the magic of bats’ ultrasonic vocalisations through field-based narration? We had a brief chat with Mark Ferguson—the wildlife sound recordist behind recent Bandcamp release Walking with Bats—to find out. 

Full album available here.

Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get into bat detecting?

I’m a wildlife sound recordist and sound artist, with a particular interest in the creative potential of animal vocabulary and audible behaviours.

From 2018 to 2022, I was a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, exploring how my own wildlife sounds could be used for the composition of multichannel audio works. I was doing all kinds of weird and wonderful things with sound, like placing audiences inside bumblebee nests, and drawing the sounds of bubbling water through people’s feet in the concert hall, using floor-mounted loudspeakers!

During my research in early 2020, two things happened: the COVID-19 pandemic, and the birth of my daughter. It was a very stressful time, and I had to think outside the box in order to continue recording and researching effectively. I decided to buy an ultrasound detector and teach myself as much as possible about bat detecting, absorbing well-known texts by Russ, Middleton et al., Dietz & Kiefer, etc. After learning the basics, I started heading out for short evening walks with my detector (part of my permitted daily exercise during lockdown!), making notes about my encounters and trying different recording approaches on the move. I soon became hooked, and bat detecting developed into one of my main interests as a wildlife sound recordist.

I also became a proud BCT member in 2020, and I still use the website, Bat News, BatChat and other resources to stay up to speed about bat conservation.

Bat detecting beneath an LED street light in Bristol, not far from where track 2 'Bradley Stoke' was recorded  

What is Walking with Bats all about?

It’s an album of narrated wildlife walks, exploring the fascinating echolocations of UK/Irish bat species in various spots throughout south-west England and my native Northern Ireland. There are a few bonus tracks at the end, featuring some weird and wonderful extras (including a three-dimensional, software-based reconstruction of the foraging trajectory of a common pipistrelle). The main portion of the project was undertaken from April to October 2023, with a lot of work either side and support from an Arts Council England DYCP grant.

The album is my humble attempt at establishing a reference work for narrated bat detection. It’s the kind of material I hope folks will point to when someone asks, ‘What does it sound like to go bat detecting?’ It’s also been created with nature accessibility very much in mind: not everyone is able to go bat detecting, so my goal has been to transport listeners directly to the field, even if they can’t get outside or afford a bat detector.

All people need is some peace and quiet (and ideally a decent pair of headphones) to enjoy Walking with Bats.

What inspired you to undertake the project?

As a wildlife recordist who cares deeply about the natural world, I wanted to direct more positive attention towards bats, since they are so frequently misunderstood. There are so many negative associations and misconceptions about bats which need to be dismantled, and I feel that artists of all stripes need to draw more attention to just how beneficial bats are in terms of insect control, pollination, seed dispersal, ecosystem health indication, etc. Most people simply don’t realise how much bats are doing for our planet.

Looking at how people are engaging with—and learning about—other species has also been influential. On streaming platforms, we are frequently presented with camera-worthy (subjectively cute) megafauna and birds as examples of ‘wildlife’, and end up conceptualising what’s ‘worth saving’ around those images and associations. I wanted to nudge the focus firmly towards bats, since they are such exciting animals to work with and are often sidelined.

Once you take a moment to stand back and appreciate bats objectively, you start to realise just how incredible they really are.

 

What kind of equipment do you use for detecting bats?

I’m the proud owner of a Pettersson D1000X, which is a fantastic piece of kit. I also have a D240X as a compact, go-to detector for use on casual detecting trips.

For Walking with Bats, I found a way to mount a very small, high-quality omnidirectional microphone on top of my D1000X; this meant that I could record both my narrations and the surrounding ambience as I detected, running the microphone into a separate field recorder. I need top-level professional equipment for all of my professional audio work and research, but it’s important to emphasise that you can buy a bat detector for well under £100, or even borrow one from a local library, depending on where you are.

There are often great second-hand options, so keep your eyes peeled on eBay! I bought my D1000X from a gentleman in Somerset, who had had a bit of a career change and no longer needed it.

The Pettersson D1000X, tuned to a classic heterodyne frequency of 45kHz. Rest assured that other frequencies were used in the making of the album

 

If there's one thing you'd like to accomplish with Walking with Bats, what would it be

I want to make bat detecting—and the experiences around it—accessible for people, especially young people and those with disabilities.

For bat enthusiasts, detecting is already a very interesting craft and we all know why we go out in the evenings. But there’s so much to do in terms of educating the wider public about bat detecting and getting people involved; in fact, I would like to be quite bold here and suggest that we need to worry less about data gathering, and more about showing people (especially kids) just how cool bats are. We need to be working on that all the time, because as valuable as data is, it doesn’t necessarily move people to act: if data did that on its own, we would arguably be well on our way to solving the climate and biodiversity crises.

Following on from this, I think we need to be holistic with our problem solving. We need all approaches and disciplines to solve the crises we currently face as a species. We need activism and quiet persuasion and everything in between. And from my own standpoint, we especially need ongoing collaborations between artists and scientists, to get messages across and emotionally move people to act (not just inform them to).

I would argue that all of this is especially true given the false information that has been floating around about bats during and post-COVID. We need creative projects that highlight the beauty of bats in interesting and engaging ways, and I hope that Walking with Bats achieves this and inspires others to put similar projects out there.

An An evening view, during a late-summer detecting attempt around Sheepscombe, Cotswolds. Some strikingly beautiful locations were visited during recording for Walking with Bats

Do you have any advice for young bat detectorists, or those just starting out?

It’s never been easier to get hold of a bat detector and start exploring.

One of the key messages embodied by Walking with Bats is that you really can detect anywhere: in parks, fields, suburban alleyways, even your back garden. Just go for it, and use all of the resources that BCT and other organisations have available to learn as much as you can.

Above all else, learn to listen well. The world needs good listeners who want to find out about other species and pay attention to their sounds. Bats need as much help as possible in this regard, because they aren’t normally audible to us.

We all know how important and exciting bats are; it’s time to start making their voices (and stories) heard all the clearer.

---------------------

Development of the field recording techniques used for Walking with Bats was made possible by an Arts Council England DYCP grant, awarded to Mark in 2022.

You can find out more about Mark’s work via his personalwebsite.

The 'Secateur Eared Bat'

Harriet Mead is a sculptor and current president of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWA). She is exhibiting a bat sculpture called the 'Secateur Eared Bat' for the SWA's annual exhibition The Natural Eye at the Mall Galleries in London (1-11 November). In this blog she shares how her passion for bats and making things started.

Well before I ever went near a welder, I wanted to make things. Like many small girls I loved soft toys but 40 years ago any realistic looking animal soft toys were expensive and beyond my reach. My mother let me use the sewing machine and encouraged me to design my own simple toys. At nine years old I managed to put the needle through my finger, complete with thread, but it didn’t put me off! Fur fabric and felt was purchased with pocket money and before long I was designing my own animals using newspaper to draw out patterns-an early training for thinking in three dimensions. 

One of my little toys was a flying bat with outstretched felt wings and a furry body with felt ears and bead eyes, the bat mascot was strung on elastic and very cute. Before I knew it, a friend of my father’s, Phil Richardson who ran a bat group, started stocking it in their ‘Batalogue’ a photocopied leaflet of bat themed wares, bat detectors and bat books. At 15 I found myself making 50 every couple of months. By sixth form I had two friends helping to make the wings and bodies. Over the years we must have made several thousand little bats that winged their way all over the country.  

I’ve always had a soft spot for bats. Dad had a bat detector which converted their ultrasonic calls which they use for echolocation into audio, from which you could identify the species. Modern bat detecting is very sophisticated by comparison. As part of a survey of bats in Norfolk, my neighbour and late mother borrowed recording equipment and set up surveys around the village for the study organised by the BTO. The recordings were then analysed by a computer programme which identified an impressive eight of a possible 14 species that could be found in the garden, including brown long-eared bats on which this sculpture is based (the species confirmed were Natterer’s bat, serotine, noctule, common pipistrelle, soprano pipistrelle, Nathusius’ pipistrelle, barbastelle and brown long-eared bat. The three low confidence were: whiskered, Daubenton's bat and Leisler’s bat).

Secateur Eared Bat

As ever, when I make a sculpture, I must look very closely at the subject. Bats are amazing creatures and extraordinarily delicate looking. To make one form scrap metal was rather a challenge. I have used sickles for the wings and a fine-toothed band saw blade for the fur. Secateur blades for the ears with tiny tin snip blades as well. It was fiddly but fun. I am especially pleased with the feet. Although my bat is at least double life sized, the feet are still tiny. I took a while to work out how to make them but I had a brainwave and cut a little section out of an ancient coach bolt. The thread describes the tiny toes beautifully.

 

 For more information about The Natural Eye 2023 exhibition visit the website here.