#natbatconf a first-timers blog on the National Bat Conference

#natbatconf...2013 a first timer's visit...

Abi McLoughlin, Press and Communications Officer at Bat Conservation Trust gives us a behind the scenes view of her first Bat Conference!

It was with excitement and enthusiasm I pulled on my purple sweatshirt and proudly pinned into place my name badge for the start of my first National Bat Conference in Warwick - only slightly mindful of the date, Friday 13th. And I'm glad I'm not superstitious as the weekend was wonderful... 

RAINY FRIDAY

Friday 13th saw delegates and Bat Conservation Trust members flock to the bar courtesy of a free drink reception from the sponsors, WildlifeAcoustics. This blogger can categorically report only the weather and not the spirits of the bat enthusiasts was damp - which meant some nice consolation for the bad luck suffered by the bat walkers. 

Then came the more serious business of the annual Bat Worker Forum - where bat volunteers were able to discuss a variety of issues - from roost visit forms and the complications there with to the issue of Defra's desire to 'reduce and simplify' wildlife guidance which has led to a consultation on a document that seems to many to have its facts wrong when it comes to bats. Everyone was urged to have their sayon Defra's conultations  before the 27th Sept deadline. The passion and commitment  of the bat workers to bats was inspiring and encouraging to see and the meeting served to list the on-going projects and some very useful updates.

Then it was back to the bar - just to take photos you understand - before hobbling off to bed - a leg injury getting a good bit of strengthening work as I was to hobble back and forth across campus with varying degrees of 'on-time ness' over the weekend. 

SUNNY SATURDAY 

Anne Youngman with her amazing designs

Saturday 14th was an early start to get the BCT stall, registration was in full flow before the talks started at 9 am. The wonderful Scotland Officer Anne Youngman added to our stall with some fabulous handcrafted glow in the dark bat badges which proved to be as in demand as Kelly Gunnell and Carol Williams' new book Designing forBiodiversity... both sold-out with folks wanting more - which is good in showbiz but slightly frustrating on the BCT stall! At least the book is available at the  ribabookshops website!

Julia Hanmer addressing confernece

After a few years out of academia, it felt great to enter a lecture hall again. And the talks didn't disappoint (and were much more exciting than many a law lecture). CEO of the bat Conservation Trust Julia Hanmer kicking things off with a look at issues facing bat and reflecting the year's work from BCT. The loudest hiss and boo from delegates was reserved for the unpopular Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, for his position on wildlife.

After Julia, Investigations Officer Pete Charleston, stepped up. He outlined the on-going issues with woeful sentencing and provided advice on what is needed to successfully tackle bat crime. Pete is currently investigating a shocking case in Bridlington that saw a conviction for destroying 6 roosts receiving a paltry £35 per roost fine. This is something Bat Conservation Trust  is working to change. 

A host of fantastic talks followed - all prompting great discussion, tweeting and retweeting under #natbatconf. Then came the workshops and what a treat they were - looking at all aspects of bat behaviour, bat handling, buildings, bats and the law to name but a few. Pat Waring's collection of films was wonderful to watch, shining an infrared light on some oft-missed bat behaviours. 

There was a great exhibition hall with a host of batty literature, bat monitoring and bat sound kits, amazing camera trap technologies and some rather fab other bits and bobs... after some more stints on the BCT stall it was back to the talks. 

We heard the latest from Stacey Waring (shown here with Heather McFarlane of BCT) as she is going loopy, or at least counting loops in fabric analysing the currently available breathable roofing membranes - it's very important work looking at how bats can become tangled and will have implications for industry and conservation.

We'd also heard from Lisa Worledge and Helen Miller on the latest on the very nearly unpronounceable and, in the US, deadly fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans - and what its presence in the UK may mean for Britain's bats. 

The signs suggest the presence of the fungus in the UK is good news for our bats, who may be immune to White Nose Sydrome.  So after a collective sigh of relief it was time to get ready for a bit of dinner, a rather tricky quiz and a lot of ceilidh chaos. Our table worked wonders on the anagrams and did pretty well overall, but not quite as well as you'd hope having set many of the questions!

Top tip - if you have twinkle toes

If anyone gets the opportunity to meet one of the BCT helpline managers, Pete in a similar situation I should suggest you ask him for a twirl - quite aside from the regulation ceilidh dancing, Pete is a former professional ballet dancer and after a few glasses impressed the team massively with an airborne double turn! It's arguably even more impressive though, when you get him talking about hand rearing Australian flying foxes!

SUPER SUNDAY 

Sunday 15th dawned bright and early and it was up and back to the talks - more great talking points and a lot of twittering as we learned that Madagascan Flying foxes are indeed great seed dispersers and that seeds that have been processed (ahem, 'pooped') by the bats germinate better than those which have simply dropped - one reason posited for this is the fact the bats spit out those seeds inhabited by parasites.   

We also heard about the exciting survey work undertaken in the Isle of Wight where Bechstein's bats and barbastelles were identified.  Ian Davidson-Watts and his team even found what's believed to be the largest barbastelles roost in the UK - with a whopping 115 bats living in one tree. From the Isle of Wight it was off to Somerset for a very engaging and entertaining talk about the Big Bat Surveys undertaken by the Somerset Bat Group on the Mendip and the Blackdown hills. 

We also heard about Bat Conservation Trust's Bats, Churches and Communities pilot from the lovely Laura Bambini. Next, Northumberland Bat Group explained  how bats are using islands off the coast of Northumberland - which was surprising and delightful - who knew they flew over the ocean to visit Lindesfarne, Inner Farn and Coquet? It has worrying implications though - as a whole trench of sea between the mainland and the islands is looking a likely spot for wind turbines, how will this affect bats? I'm particularly keen to hear from anyone else who's looking out to see to count bats, know there are some folk in Kent and Hampshire undertaking similar work.

The citizen science project in Norfolk, where local people monitor bats in their area using acoustic monitoring kit borrowed from the libary, plots bats using Google maps.   Over 400 people are involved so it's not only a fantastic project to monitor bats on a bigger scale than is usually possible, but it is also working wonders for getting bats noticed and recognised as the wonderful creatures they are.  

Wildlife Acoustic's talk at Conference

There a couple of very technical talks which as a non-science graduate I found fascinating, and in places, a little tough to keep up! I'm not big on algorithms but working on it! A talk on computer monitoring of wing beat frequency from University of Lincoln and Lincolnshire Bat Group, which, when worked up and moved into the field, may be a new and exciting way to identify species. The last talk of the day was from Wildlife Acoustics, outlining their new classification technique which will be in the Kaleidoscope Pro Bat Auto ID software. A lot of maths has gone into this - and it was great to hear about it! 

Gail Armstrong's excellent bat handling workshop was a wonder to watch!

I must confess to getting absolutely overexcited taking pictures in the bat handling workshop run by Gail Armstrong - I do tend to emit extremely high squeaks myself  when in close proximity to bats - which I hope they appreciate!

After lunch there was a touching talk remembering Andrew Watson presented by Tony Hutson and it was awards time. I felt a bit bad dragging both our amazing winners: Maggie Brown (pictured above right with Julia Hanmer), recipient of the Pete Guest Award and Charlotte Walters (pictured above, left) who won the Vincent Weir Scientific Award away from their coffee break to pose for pictures - but as you can see it was worth it! 

The most amusing moment of the afternoon came during the auction and raffle - which was a chance to raise much-needed funds for the Investigations Project. Quite a turn up for the books when CEO Julia Hanmer's ticket was drawn out of the bag! 

Kieron giving a rattle for the raffle!

A last minute rush on our sales stall - the bat poo identification charts were the best sellers of the weekend, after we'd sold out of Annie’s amazing glow in the dark bats and the Designing for Biodiversity books... then it was time to pack up and hobble for the train. Home to London, exhausted and happy to dream of bats and a newly lengthened - to-do list - having learned so much, there are so many stories to get out there. It's going to be a busy year!

Hope to see you all at the next conference, 7th September 2014, University of Warwick, I’ll be the one in the purple sweatshirt!  

Blogger Abi McLoughlin is the new Bat Conservation Trust Press and Communications Officer. She joined the team in June 2013 after 12 years at the BBC as a factual film maker/ producer/director. She is always keen to hear anyone's stories, and can help craft stories, offer help on press releases and media training. Do get in touch amcloughlin@bats.org.uk 

Some highlights from the Scottish Bat Project this Spring and early Summer

1^st April until 30^th June 2013 ...Spring Highlights

My last blog was written in March as the snow was gently falling. Since then it’s been; freezing freezing, freezing , warm, back to freezing , warm and then in the last couple of week ABSOLUTELY SCORCHING!!! (I suppose on average that might be considered just right).I don’t know how our poor bats have coped with the extremes, I await the National Bat Monitoring programme results with interest.

So what have I been up to since the first of April?  The answer …Loads of batty things; here are some highlights…. .

Visits to Bat groups

I visited Fife and Kinross bat group for their AGM.  It’s a fantastically sociable night, members all bring their special “signature” dish and after the bat group business is sorted everyone tucks into a veritable feast of wonderful food. (Its one of the highlights of my social calendar!)

Another great treat is the knitting!! Yes I said knitting , some of the group are part of a project called Fife’s knitted nature and are busily knitting all the biodiversity species in Fife (naturally this includes bats) .  The results are charming and so inspiring they make you want to pick up your pins.

Fife and Kinross Bat group – bat skills, knitters and chefs, their talents are limitless.

Talks, training and events

May was a busy month for delivering talks and training sessions, it was also mostly freezing cold with few bats about.

Training for Vet students

I owe a HUGE THANKYOU to volunteer bat carers; Michelle Appleby and Carol Ann Terry who were absolute stars during a training day introducing vet students to bat care. They brought captive bats with them and answered non-stop questions.   Enormous thanks are also due to Laura Dunne and Emma Keeble my contacts at the Dick Vet School, without their help the course would not have gone ahead.  This was a new venture for BCT and was very well received. Thanks to Jess Barker too from BCT.

Hillcrest Housing Association in Dundee have an active interest in encouraging wildlife and asked for particular advice on helping bats.  I gave a short talk, a quick lesson on using detectors and some top tips on identifying local bats.  Now they are busily bat watching at properties they own.  They will present their wildlife records (including bats) at a special celebratory event in October. (In the meanwhile I hope bat activity and the weather warms up)

Other training events included evenings with;

·         Scottish Wildlife Trust apprentice ecologists ( who will go on to survey for Leisler’s bats on Arran later in the year),

·         Paisley University Zoological society, (a freezing cold night, we got about 3 bats!)

·         students at Elmwood college , (a fantastic night watching Daubenton’s and pipistrelle bats),

·         A bat care training night with North East Scotland Bat Group.

·         A bat detector workshop in Kinlochewe.

The outdoor session at Kinlochewe was very memorable. A huge full moon rose over the mountains.  We watched Daubenton’s and pipistrelle bats flying up and down the river and then…… we heard something quite different, something much lower and slower than the usual pipistrelle calls.  AAARGH, I am pretty sure it was a Nathusius pipistrelle, but it flew past and did not return so there was no opportunity to make a recording of the call.  Anyone heading for Kinlochewe please keep your ears open and recording device switched on!

Bird fair 13/14^th May Hopetoun

A wild, wet and windy weekend was survived at the Scottish Birdfair. Our tent was set up on Friday only to have its roof blown off during the night.  I’m very grateful to the kind security guard who not only rescued the roof but used it to protect all our boxes of leaflets and displays.  Over the weekend six volunteers heroically helped to promote bat conservation not only by chatting to the public but also by holding on to the tent and displays when the wind blew. ( These heoes are ; Sarah Jupp,Natalie Todman, James Morrison, Alastair Hood, Eilidh McNab and Danny )

BCT tries a new recruitment technique -  Become a member – or we send the kids round!

Wales Bat conference – I had a brilliantly batty time at the Wales bat conference.  A real treat for me was the evening field work where I enjoyed listening to the funky sounds of noctule calls and a bonus sighting of otters.  The conference was a great opportunity for updating my bat knowledge and practical skills, meeting up with other batty people and to get ideas for the Scottish Confererence.

Participants at the Wales Bat conference - Great excitement when serotine calls are confirmed

A challenge not to be sniffed at…

And finally I had a rather unusual request – could I make a model cowpat and create a display that linked cowpats, insects and bats?

No bother!  I immediately set too creating a wildflower meadow (grass and wildflowers that were weeded from my flowerbeds were put into seed tray)

A cowpat wascreated;  flour, salt, water , grass clippings and food colour where mixed to a sloppy dough and dropped onto a backing tray, then left for 3 weeks in the shed to partially dry out.

My collection of plastic minbeasts was delved from the toy box

A variety of menu cards were written and voila…. “Pat and Flora’s Café” was created    

A paper tablecloth was hastily drawn on  with chunky wax crayons, to suggest wildflowers and grasses. The seed trays were put on this, the cowpat on top and minbeasts hidden in the “meadow”, bat shapes were hung above to complete the food chain.

Children made cow pat and bat hats from a band of card (the cow pat was optional but most children quite enjoyed drawing a big sloppy pat along the bottom of their hat) A fringe snipped along the top of the hat suggested grass and stickers (with flowers and minbeasts) were added to increase the biodiversity and make the hats look pretty.

Westquarter event –( meet the faeces).  Children in cowpat hats find mini-beasts (bat food)  at Pat and Flora’s Café.

Other little snippets

Thanks Dumfries and Galloway bat group for hospitality after the AGM

Thanks Fife and Kinross bat group for taking species Champion Jayne Baxter on a day’s checking bat boxes

It was slightly depressing the week before mid-summer to go on a bat walk and see only 2 bats (It was chilly!) 
How things  changed by July! More updates soon ...

Bat Chat – Some highlights from the Scottish Bat Project from 1st January until 28th March 2013

 

Warm greetings, though it’s still pretty chilly here in Dunblane . Snow is falling as I write this.  I’m still waiting to see my first bats of the season, a sign that spring is on its way.  Until it comes I’m living off my fat, eating porridge and dressed in many layers of thermals. There is a temptation to hibernate – except I’d choose a cosy warm duvet and not a cold humid ice house as my site!

So what have I been up since the start of January? 

Here are a few of the highlights; 

Species Champions 

Whoopee doo!!  A lonely hearts type message sent out on Valentine’s day was a great success in encouraging  MSPs ( Members of Scottish Parliament) to become species champions for bats.  We have six champions. 

They are….(imagine a fanfare trumpeting ):

1.       Bill Kidd  -  champion for the common pipistrelle ( and yes I DO have to stop myself saying Billy the Kid champion for the common man)

2.       Jayne Baxter – champion for the ( gorgeous) Brown longeared bat

3.       Jim Hume – champion for the ( high flying) Noctule

4.       Murdo Fraser – champion for the (eloquent) Natterer’s

5.       Willie Rennie – champion for the ( small dark and handsome) Nathusius pipistrelle

6.       Graeme Pearson – champion for the (mysterious) Leisler’s bat.

(Now imagine a HUGE cheer) 

Bill Kidd and assistants

I visited Bill and Jayne at Holyrood to answer all their batty queries and suggest ways we might work together in future to promote bat conservation . I’ll be visiting the remaining champions soon, armed with bat detectors, bat leaflets and homemade bat shaped biscuits .

 

Visits to bat groups  

Flying visits were made to; Lothian’s bat group, Clyde bat group and Central Scotland Bat group, joining them for bat group meetings.   A planned visit to Dumfries and Galloway bat group was scuppered by an accident which blocked the motorway for so long I only had time to turn around and go back home ( sorry Dumfries and Galloway – see you on 16^th April) .

Batty /Unusual people!   

bat volunteers (and Dogs)

I was contacted by Jana Fleishart of Volunteer Development Scotland to help with her research into volunteers who do unusual and exciting things. She includes people who do: National Bat Monitoring Programme surveys, Mountain Rescue and those who ride motorbikes and deliver (no not pizzas) but vital organs to hospitals. (Wow, I never realised NBMP volunteers were in quite such exciting leagues.)  Jana joined a team from Central Scotland bat group for a hibernation survey at Doune Castle before interviewing and filming volunteers.  Her case studies will appear on the Volunteer Development 
                                                                                     Scotland website this summer.

 

New resources for groups to borrow

New Scottish banners

Has your group got events planned this summer?   I have two lovely new banners that can be borrowed.

The “Amazing Bats” banner  shows  what bats do throughout the year and has a bat fact for each UK species, the second “Help save Scottish Bats” is a plea to join Bat  Conservation Trust (because  you know it makes sense ) .

The displays come in their own carrying case and are very easy to set up, once unrolled they measure just over 2m high by 1m wide.  Do email me if you’d like to borrow these, there is no charge for their use but donations to BCT are always appreciated. 

So looking forward to the next three months …

Its going to be none stop, with lots of public events such as; Birdfayre, Bioblitz’s, a wildlife festival at Falkirk and a Taste of Ayrshire at Culzean. I’ll be delivering bat care training to vet students  in Edinburgh and  carers in North east Scotland plus bat detector training in the wilds of Wester Ross.  I’ll be braving the bustle and bright lights of the city and joining colleagues in London for 3 days to keep up to date with new projects and staff changes .

So enough about me, what about you dear reader?  (I’m optimistically assuming someone   does read this )

What might you be getting up to in the next three months???  

I’ve a few suggestions;

•   When you do see your first bat/s of the season please add these to the BIG BAT MAP and if you see bats three nights in a row – throw a party , Spring is on the way  

•      If you have not done it already join Bat Conservation Trust

The next instalment of this batty blog will be produced  around  the start of July  ( if the Lord spares me )

Until then Pip pip over and out

Anne Youngman

Scottish officer, BCT

Email: ayoungman@bats.org.uk

Taking up the challenge to help bats

 

Myself (left) and James Shipman
raised over £700 for BCT running the Royal Parks Half Marathon

Ringing in the New Year brings a fresh start and a determination to make this year even better than the year before. Lots of us will have made New Year’s resolutions to make our lives a little better, even if it is hard.   But as I write this it is estimated that already one in four of us will have given up on our resolutions and shockingly by June almost half of us will have ditched them. So this got me thinking how can we stick at them?

It is easy to dismiss giving up on resolutions as laziness, lack of self-control and setting too high an expectation, but knowing this doesn't help you stick to them.  But maybe if we can give our resolutions a bigger purpose or are challenging ourselves for the good of something we love gives us an extra push we need and that is what helps us persevere through the tough times too.

The reason why we do it

Working at the Bat Conservation Trust I see volunteers, members and supporters doing amazing things every day, and they never give up. What do they have that New Year’s resolution setters don't? Well I reckon it is because they are doing it for the bats - a cause they love.  I think this is where fundraising for bats can really make a difference - chances are, if you are reading this blog - you’re not just a liker of bats but you are probably pretty batty for them. Do people call you bat man? Are you always Dracula at Halloween? If so carry on reading...

If you want to stick to your resolutions why not do it for the bats and combine it with raising some money? There are many ways you can give to a charity, donating a tenner, becoming a member and leaving a legacy , but fundraising for charities by giving your time and energy can give you that extra drive to stick to your New Year's resolutions. Whether you donate your cigarette money to bats or get sponsored to do all that exercise there are lots to ways to turn your resolution into something more. It can be so rewarding for both you and your chosen charity and give you the determination to keep going when others would give up.

Sean Hanna dressing as a noctule for BCT

As well as helping us by raising much needed funds taking on a challenge for charity helps us in many other ways. Educating your friends and family too. It  can inspire others to do that little bit extra for bats too.

What’s in it for you? As well as giving you the boost to keep going.  Taking on a challenge for charity you love is also a great way to become more involved, learn more and meet new friends.





In the past we have had students walking 500 miles for us (I don't think they then walked 500 more), people undertaking fun runs dressed as bats, half marathons and cycle challenges in aid of us right through to people going that extra mile, hosting Halloween parties, having cake stalls at school and even a guess the date and weight of a birth. 

Northern Ireland Environment Agency holding
a cake sale and raising over £150 for bat

 And this year looks set to be a great year for fundraising we already have two people running for us in the Royal Parks Half Marathon, someone cycling 100 miles for bats and a student who is prepared to spend the day blindfolded in order to dispel the myths educate their friends and raise some vital cash for bats.

So maybe don’t worry about seeing all your resolutions through this year just make one small one to have some fun and help a charity that you care about 
  
 Last year my New Year's resolution to was to do more exercise - I hadn't run since high school so entered the year with a sense of trepidation and I have to admit the first few months were arduous, I hardly ran and it was surprising how many 'reasons' I could find to not have to do a run. Soon I realised it was crunch time “To run or not to run”

Myself  after my run

That’s when the running place for the half marathon came up, I decided to enter myself before I had a chance to say “No”

Running this time was different, every mile was an achievement closer to my end goal and sooner or later I actually found myself enjoying it. What’s more the joy didn’t stop there. It gave me opportunities to talk to my friends and family about my love for conservation - when I asked them if they would like to sponsor me more often than not the first thing they said was, why? And why bats?? A smirk would then rise on my face and I’d take a deep breath before beginning with "Well,..”

Race day came and I met up with fellow BCT member James Shipman who was also racing for us. The nerves were kicking in but I knew there was no way of getting out of it. So I did what I had to do and ran, simply ran and yes it was horrid, yes I felt like I wanted to give up at every mile but when the going got tough I just thought about everyone who had sponsored me and how it had made me feel that people had faith in me that I would do it and then it was over.. .

I did say I would never run again but I think everyone knew it wouldn’t be long before I had my trainers on again, so here I am in 2013 with new running goals and new charities to enthuse people about. This year I am planning on running 1,000 miles in aid of the MS society (multiple sclerosis) – Don’t worry it’s not all in one go, I totted up the miles I would have trained last year and figured it wouldn’t be too hard to run a bit more each day and use all my training and marathon running miles together. 

What I really love about the fundraising I do is how my  it embodies my two passions in life - I really have the running bug and through simply putting one step in from of the other I can educate and enthuse people and raise money for charities that I respect... “ Quids in” I’d say.

Halloween cake sale at the Northern Ireland
Environment agency head office

Whatever you choose to do, if you do it for that bats; just remember that we are here to help you at every stage of the way.

 Simply visit www.bats.org.uk/fundraise or email me at fundraise@bats.org.uk for information and advice.