BatChat

S3E31 This week Steve is on the Tortworth Estate in south Gloucestershire with Jim Mullholland. They're joined by a voluntary team of arborists who are assisting Jim with his 5 year project to create natural tree features for Bechstein's and barbastelle bats. By using chainsaws to create different crevices and cavities within living trees, the team hope that they will be taken up by colonies of the two bat species which are present in the woodland Steve is visiting today in this episode. The episode starts on a sunny spring day in an ancient woodland with chiffchaff singing in the canopy overhead. As the episode moves down to where the team are working for the day there's more background noise than you're used to on BatChat because the woodland is right next to the M5 motorway.  

• Jim Mullholland is on twitter and Instagram
• Jim has a YouTube channel with a number of videos of bats inside tree roosts.
• The Tortworth Estate opens to the public on certain days of the year. Find out more here.
• Listen to our other episodes on veteranisation with Jim and Vicky Bengtsson
• A guide to veteranisation techniques is at this link.

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatConservationTrust
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_BCT_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batconservationtrust

For more bat news, head to our website https://www.bats.org.uk/

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan
Cover Art: Rachel Hudson http://rachelhudsonillustration.com/

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

S3E30 This week Steve is in Surrey at RHS Garden Wisley with Principal Entomologist Dr Andrew Salisbury. Andrew sits down with Steve in the brand new wildlife garden outside their new laboratory building to tell us about the work the RHS do and how we can improve our gardens for wildlife including bats. 
This week we also have a piece of nature writing by James Gilbert. James creates 'thumbnail' pieces and tweets them out and he's created a longer piece especially for BatChat called "Made with Echoes".

• RHS Garden Wisley website, twitter and Instagram
• RHS Plants for Pollinators list
• Andrew Salisbury is on twitter and Instagram and his RHS profile is here
• Info on how to garden for bats can be found on our website
• James Gilbert is on twitter
• Morgan Brind who narrated Made with Echoes is on twitter and Instagram

If you have a piece of nature writing or poetry about bats that you'd like to share with us, drop us an email to [email protected] and your piece may end up on the show!

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatConservationTrust
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_BCT_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batconservationtrust

For more bat news, head to our website https://www.bats.org.uk/

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan
Cover Art: Rachel Hudson http://rachelhudsonillustration.com/

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

S3E29 This week Steve joins Martyn Cooke outside a holiday cottage in Staffordshire as they set up a matrix of bat detectors to record the sound of Brandt's bats emerging from their roost before flying into the adjacent woodland. Martyn explains why he is recording the calls, why he's travelled all the way from Surrey to record these bats and what the calls will be used for. Steve finds out how an injured serotine bat got Martyn hooked on bats and they talk about the advances in automatic bat call identification.

If you're interested in finding out more about bat detectors, your local bat group are likely to be able to lend you a detector and you can learn more about them on our website here.   Listen to our earlier episode from series one about Brandt's in the Churnet valley here.

• Follow Martyn on twitter
• Borrow detectors from us to help us grow the call library
• Bat Detector Info
• Low cost AudioMoth detectors on twitter

Please leave us a review if you can, it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are.

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

S3E28 This week Steve is joined in a Derbyshire churchyard by Jon Russ who is an expert on bat echolocation calls. They discuss how Jon got into studying bat calls, his latest book on the subject and his passion for Nathusius’ pipistrelle bats. Jon's latest book "Bat Calls of Britain and Europe" is available from Pelagic Publishing and is aimed at anyone interested in bat echolocation. It contains introductory chapters to the subject as well as more advanced topics such as sound analysis. As Jon says in this episode if you want to get into learning about bat calls the best place to start is to get hold of a bat detector. Your local bat group are likely to be able to lend you a detector and you can learn more about them on our website here. Jon's other passion is Nathusius' pipistrelles and he runs the website dedicated to this species containing distribution maps, identification tips and other information about their ecology.  Listen to our earlier episode about Nathusius' pipistrelles with Dan Hargreaves here.

• Bat Calls of Britain and Europe 
• Bat Detector Info
• Nathusius' pipistrelle website

Please leave us a review if you can, it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are.

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

S3E27 This week Steve is in the Lake District National Park with Ecologist and Chair of south Cumbria Bat Group Rich Flight. Rich published the findings of a study called "Bats with Altitude" in the journal British Island Bats in 2021 and he sits down with Steve to tell us about what inspired the project, what bats were found at over 500m on the mountainsides and how volunteers surveyed for bats in challenging upland conditions.

• Bats with Altitude paper (page 105) published in British Island Bats where photos of the study sites and maps are available
• Rich's Instagram
• Rich's twitter
• South Cumbria Bat Group website
• Cumberland Bat Group website

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatConservationTrust
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_BCT_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batconservationtrust

For more bat news, head to our website https://www.bats.org.uk/

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan
Cover Art: Rachel Hudson http://rachelhudsonillustration.com/

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

S3E26 This week Steve is at Chorlton Water Park Nature Reserve in Manchester with author and illustrator Emma Reynolds. Emma's debut author-illustrator book "Amara and the Bats" was published here in the UK in July 2021 and she sits down with Steve to tell us how the book has been received, what she thinks the future of children's books holds and what it was that inspired her to write a kids book about bats.

• Emma's website
• Amara and the Bats publisher website
• Buy your books and support your local bookstore using Bookshop.org
• Emma's shop (including pin badges, stickers & cards)
• #KidLit4Climate
• Emma's Instagram (where you can watch Bat Club Live on Tuesdays or watch the back-catalogue whenever you like)
• Emma's twitter

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatConservationTrust
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_BCT_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batconservationtrust

For more bat news, head to our website https://www.bats.org.uk/

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan
Cover Art: Rachel Hudson http://rachelhudsonillustration.com/

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

S3E25 This week Steve is on the Norfolk coastline in the East of England visiting Jane Harris from the Norfolk barbastelle study group. Paston Great Barn dates back to 1581. It’s a huge thatched barn made of flint, brick and stone measuring 50 meters in length and about 10 meters wide. Despite it’s size, driving south along the coast road it’s very easy to miss as you pass its end flint wall and not until you glance in your rear view mirror do you get a feel for the expanse of the structure. Hidden away inside this SSSI and SAC is an important roost of rare barbastelle bats which emerge from the barn at night and either head off down the country lanes or to the cliffs along the beach to forage. Jane and Steve discuss the work done by the research group to discover more about barbastelles in Norfolk as well as this important roost where it all started back in 1996.

• Norfolk barbastelle study group website
• Their blog site
• A historic newsletter with a timeline of events at Paston barn
• The British Islands Bats paper than Jane mentions
• Norwich Bat Group Social Media
• Norfolk Wildlife Trust Social Media

Please leave us a review if you can, it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are.

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatConservationTrust
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_BCT_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batconservationtrust

For more bat news, head to our website https://www.bats.org.uk/

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan
Cover Art: Rachel Hudson http://rachelhudsonillustration.com/info

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

S3E24 BatChat is back for a third series! Steve is on the roof of the biological sciences building with Professor Gareth Jones where he talks to Steve about just some of the research he has undertaken in his lifetime with bats. They discuss the work famously done to separate the two pipistrelle species back in the 90's, what Gareth gets up to in his spare time and the unusual behaviour found in fruit bat species which won Gareth the Ig Nobel Prize! Please leave us a review if you can, it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are.

• Follow Gareth on twitter
• Follow the Jones BatLab on twitter
• Gareth's Research Profile
• Gareth's Photography Website
• Fellatio by fruit bats prolongs copulation time

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatConservationTrust
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_BCT_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batconservationtrust

For more bat news, head to our website https://www.bats.org.uk/

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan
Cover Art: Rachel Hudson http://rachelhudsonillustration.com/info

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

Hello everyone it’s Steve here from BatChat here to tell you that a brand new series is going to be along on Wednesday. I know it’s been a long wait since the last series but we’ve been working really hard to join our guests out in the field so that you don’t have to listen to any more Zoom calls! So all of our guests this series have been recorded on location. This is just a little teaser, to give you a little heads-up that were coming back with some wonderful guests starting on Wednesday Nov 3rd with the brilliant Professor Gareth Jones. It’s a great episode I think you’re going to really enjoy it. Tell us how much you’re looking forward series 3 on the socials using #BatChat and a taste of what’s coming up in series 3 of BatChat is in this trailer. See you on Wednesday!

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!

S2E23 For the final episode of Series 2 we join Nottinghamshire Bat Group member Barry Collins at a Leicestershire Church where he talks to Steve about the works that were undertaken on the church to restore it whilst retaining the Natterer's bat colony living in the fabric of the building. Barry also discusses the importance of churches in the local community as well as how they're adapting to the 21st century and how he, along with dozens of other bat workers, are working with church communities up and down the country to find a solution to retain bat roosts whilst allowing these buildings at the heart of villages to be regularly used.

• Become a bat explorer in your local church with the Bats in Churches Project
• Find out more about Barry's work
• Follow the Leicestershire and Rutland Bat Group on twitter
• Follow Nottinghamshire Bat Group on twitter
• Follow Essex Bat Group on twitter

Remember we're on the lookout for stories and projects to include in the next series of BatChat so if you have a great story to tell, email [email protected]

Join the conversation on social media using #BatChat:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatConservationTrust
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_BCT_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batconservationtrust

For more bat news, head to our website https://www.bats.org.uk/

Producer: Steve Roe @SteveRoeBatMan
Cover Art: Rachel Hudson http://rachelhudsonillustration.com/info

Support the show

Please leave us a review or star rating if your podcast app allows it because it helps us to reach a wider audience so that we can spread the word about how great bats are. How to write a podcast review (and why you should).

Got a story to share with us? Please get in touch via [email protected]

Bats are magical but misunderstood. At BCT our vision is a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together. Action to protect & conserve bats is having a positive impact on bat populations in the UK. We would not be able to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats without your contribution so if you can please donate. We need your support now more than ever: www.bats.org.uk/donate  Thank you!