The Scottish Bat Workers Conference 2011: how was it for you?

Talks at the Scottish bat workers conference

The Scottish Bat workers conference was held at Stirling University on Saturday 12^th November. Anne Youngman, who organised the conference, writes:

Phew – it’s done.

That was the biggest and (I feel) the best ever Scottish conference. J. So far. Around 140 batty people “flew” in. Most came from Scotland but a few intrepid explorers crossed the borders of England and Wales, bringing with them exciting tales of rare bats and adding a touch of the exotic.

Delegates enjoy the displays and bat chat

Mark Robinson (Arborteering Limited)

The conference was sponsored by Mark Robinson, Arborteering Limited. He’s not just an ordinary hero but a MMMM Mark Robinson super hero (that bit should be read in a deep sexy voice). Mark not ONLY sponsored the conference he ALSO ran a brilliant workshop. (HOORAY he’s not just oak- kay , he’s tree-mendous)

Stirling University is a great place for our conference. It’s THE leading place for bat research in Scotland, due to the “Kirsty Park” effect, attracting bat researchers. In addition the beautiful parkland setting offers ideal bat habitat.

The conference contained; talks, workshops, an update of bat news, displ ays AND sales tables (I treated myself to several batty Christmas presents....... because I’m worth it!)

Julia Hanmer gave an update on What’s new in BCT? The answer is LOADS, from new research to new website resources.

Northumberland bat group (Tina Wiffen and Graeme Smart) told us about their search for the elusive Nathusius pipistrelle. Many bat calls were recorded, many volunteers recruited, many miles trudged, many oops occasional beers were quaffed (purely in th e interests of science) but NO roosts were found. Where on earth are these bats roosting??? (All together – they’re behind you!!!) The search will go on.... watch this space in 2012 for the continued adventures of the Northumberland bat group (Haway the lads ... and the lasses).

A team with more luck were the “Looking forLeisler’s“ gang. In fact this lot were positively blessed with bats. (Jammy) John Haddow discovered the joys of..... an aerial walkway, the perfect place to put up mist nets. Bats, Ailsa, Betty and Craig were radio tagged and showed the humans seven tree roosts and favourite foraging areas. Stuart Spray’s filming of a tree roost proved a much more accurate way of “counting” bats out, rather than relying on eyesight alone.

Now Culzean can boast it has 8 of the 9 Scottish species –only the whiskered bat remains to be found. (It’ll be there somewhere and what a party we’ll have when it’s found!!)

During lunch time delegates were able to watch a film (by movie – mogul Stuart Spray) entitled “Looking for Leisler’s”. Sequels are promised.

Seven different workshop topics were on offer (plus the option NOT to attend a workshop but simply take a break to catch up with bat chat).

Workshops ranged from; Bat care to bat dropping analysis with sound analysis in between. Feedback from all the workshops was very good, the only “negative“ comment was that an hour and a quarter was not long enough, everyone wanted “more, more , more.....!” So next year workshop sessions will last an hour and a half.

Eyes down, looking in for bat dropping bingo: Number 2 - longeared pooh, Legs only 7 – Spider in heaven, Shiny things – beetle wings, Bat dropping soup- crumbly poop, Tiny little bits – ex-chironomids. Guano!

Despite technical problems with the University AV equipment and a shortage of handouts* the Using Your Ears workshop by Natalie Todman got rave reviews.* (Sorry everyone the shortage of hand outs was MY fault- grovelling apology from Anne Y)

The bat care workshop had the added attraction of real bats – something that delighted participants.

At the end of the day delegates were refreshed by Titley Scientific (who sponsored the afternoon tea break.) Cheers Titley.

Stuart Spray filmed events during the day – watch this space for a link to the results, or keep your ears open for announcements of BATFAS / Oscars in future.

It just remains for me to say thank you (to a huge long list of stars):

Stephen Brown – at Stirling University for helping organise the whole day – and the bat biscuits

John Wierwiorka- our “techie-angel”

Speakers – Julia Hanmer, Tina Wiffen, Graeme Smart, John Haddow, DR Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor ( newly doctored), and Kirsty Park

People who gave news updates- Ben Ross, Robert Raynor, Katy Freeman, Natalie Todman, Emilie Wadsworth, Andy Kerr, Tom Hastings, good looking young chap from Tayside (sorry I forgot your name)

Workshop leaders- Mark Robinson, Philip Briggs, Natalie Todman, Tom Hastings, Sue Swift, Tracey Joliffe and Danielle Linton.

Here’s a date for your diary 2012

Next year’s conference will be at the Scottish Natural Heritage Conference centre, (Battleby) near Perth, on Saturday 10^th November (if the Lord spares us!!)

Can you help?

Anyone who would like to offer; talks, workshops, sponsorship or chocolate should contact

Anne Youngman, Scottish Officer, Bat Conservation Trust email: ayoungman@bats.org.uk

(Or have you suggestions for talks and speakers you’d like to hear, this is your chance to nominate a friend/colleague/victim.

THANK YOU to our sponsors Arborteering Ltd.

The National Bat Conference: A first-timer’s perspective

By Kelly Gunnell, Bats and Built Environment Officer

It was a tough decision to make: a week’s windsurfing in Tiree or a chance to attend my first National Bat Conference? Well, of course I chose to go to the Bat Conference and I have no regrets!

As a first-timer to the conference, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The stories from previous years had really built up my expectations and the buzz in the office gearing up to it certainly added to the excitement. When the Friday came along, there was the usual hive of activity involved in trying to get things set-up. Lots of BCT staff (and thus equipment) had been delayed in traffic which meant that the membership stand and even aspects of the registration desk was a last-minute scramble. Luckily we all handled it with cool suave and I don’t think anyone noticed (right?).

The Talks...

As BCT organises and runs the conference not all BCT staff get to see many of the talks presented. However, as the new Built Environment Officer for BCT, I had a keen interest in many of the talks and was lucky enough to see most of the programme (in return I had to do a lot of microphone duty, but that is a small price to pay!). All of the speakers did a great job and the range and diversity of topics kept the audience interested and awake - despite the evenings being spent discussing bats (and drinking) long into the night!

The first talk, on the long-term bat monitoring project in Finemere Wood, set the bar high. I was most interested to hear that Daubenton’s, Brown Long-eared and Natterer’s seem to prefer shady roosts, whereas Pipistrelle’s will go for sunny and exposed bat boxes.

Roger Ransome’s presentation on his ten years’ worth of involvement on the Combe Down Stabilisation Project was fascinating. The amount of time and effort that has gone into the project is staggering. It was good to hear about the importance of ventilation for bat hibernation. I also learnt that foam concrete takes an amazing 6 months to cool.

It was a real eye-opener to learn about Turkey’s extensive cave systems from Emrah Coraman. Both the caves and the bats are under threat from cave-tourism and it was fascinating to hear how Emrah and his colleagues are tackling the problem. This talk was complimented by Dave Anderson’s talk on Sunday, which described the great lengths he has gone to discover and uncover caves in East Lancashire.

One of my favourite talks was by Emma Rigby which used Social Network Analysis to study the population ecology of Daubenton’s bats. Not surprisingly it was found that bats that roost together are almost exclusively found associating with each other during foraging.

There were two talks that looked at bat activity in the urban environment. James Hale showed how key landscape variables could be used to predict bat activity in Birmingham. He found that the NSL guild activity is highest where there is: lots of water within 100-200m; lots of natural landscape within 1000m; and low levels of buildings within 1000m. For common and soprano pips there was a strong relationship with total connectivity. Cath Laing used GIS tools to show that in Brighton bats are more likely to occur in areas with bigger gardens. Larger gardens are more likely to have greater insect assemblages because of the bigger trees. However, bat activity was not associated with street trees. This raises interesting questions for urban greening projects.

Workshops and dancing the night away...

The conference wasn’t all talks though. The workshops gave the participants a chance to engage more fully on a range of topics from Bat Identification to Sound analysis, Planning, Churches, Mitigation and even Wildlife Drawing. I did hear there was even a gate-crasher to the conference that came just for the Wind Turbine workshop!

No one could complain that the Conference Dinner was anything except entertaining. The very pink berry pyramid raised the odd eyebrow, the wine flowed pretty freely, Richard Crompton (one of BCT’s trustee we said goodbye to this weekend) did the rounds in his new Batman dressing gown and the Ceilidh had both participants and non-participants in stitches of laughter. After much socialising and networking, I made it to bed about 1:30am, unlike some energetic individuals who only stumbled to bed after 4am! I didn’t envy them on Sunday.

Although I have no previous experience to compare it to, it was still in my opinion a thoroughly successful National Bat Conference. I’m sure we are all glad for the lil’ break until the next one though!