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.