Middleton - Is That a Bat? ; A Guide to Non-bat Sounds Encountered During Bat Surveys

Is That a Bat?

A GUIDE TO NON-BAT SOUNDS
ENCOUNTERED DURING BAT SURVEYS

Neil Middleton

PELAGIC PUBLISHING

Published by Pelagic Publishing

PO Box 874

Exeter

EX3 9BR

UK

www.pelagicpublishing.com

Is That a Bat? A Guide to Non-Bat Sounds Encountered During Bat Surveys

ISBN 978-1-78427-197-8 Paperback

ISBN 978-1-78427-198-5 ePub

ISBN 978-1-78427-199-2 PDF

Copyright 2020 Neil Middleton

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. Apart from short excerpts for use in research or for reviews, no part of this document may be printed or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, now known or hereafter invented or otherwise without prior permission from the publisher.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Cover: Pipistrellus sp. (CreativeNature_nl/iStockphoto); harvest mouse, Micromys minutus (Greg Newman/Pixabay); Roesels bush-cricket, Metrioptera roeselii (Charlie Jackson/Flickr); and barn owl, Tyto alba (dmbaker/iStockphoto).

Neil Middleton is the owner of BatAbility Courses & Tuition, a training organisation that delivers bat-related skills development to customers throughout the UK and beyond. He has a constant appetite for self-development, as well as seeking to develop those around him, and to this end he has designed and delivered in excess of 200 training events covering a wide range of business and ecology-related subjects. Neil has had a strong interest in the natural world since childhood, particularly in relation to birds and mammals. He has studied bats for over 25 years, with a particular focus on their acoustic behaviour (echolocation and social calls). In 2014 he was the lead author of an important and well-received book about bat social calls, entitled Social Calls of the Bats of Britain and Ireland. Two years later he wrote The Effective Ecologist, which tackles the challenges facing ecologists, at all levels, as they endeavour to perform to the highest standard within their working environment.

www.batability.co.uk and www.timefor.co.uk

Also available by the same author:

Social Calls of the Bats of Britain and Ireland. Neil Middleton, Andrew Froud and Keith French. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-907807-97-8.

The Effective Ecologist Succeed in the Office Environment. Neil Middleton. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-78427-083-4.

Joan Punteney studied illustration and graphic design at Edinburgh College of Art. She works as a freelance artist on a wide variety of projects and subjects, and her artistic talent is always in demand. Her main work, and passion, has always been painting animals. She has undertaken countless commissions for life-like paintings of horses, pets and wildlife. Joan is also an excellent cartoonist, as demonstrated by the work produced for this book, as well as by her much-loved and humorous illustrations in Neil Middletons The Effective Ecologist. Joan is available to produce high-quality commissioned artwork.

The author is especially grateful to the following people who have consistently shown their support for this work. In no way, however, should it be construed that any opinions or statements made by the author concur with the views of those shown below. The author is solely responsible for any thoughts expressed within this book, especially anything contentious, and the dodgy attempts at humour.

David Darrell-Lambert is an accomplished ornithologist and the owner of Bird Brain UK Ltd (www.birdbrainuk.com), based in London, operating throughout the UK and further afield. Davids knowledge and passion for his subject is both immense and inspiring, and he has delivered numerous educational events, as well as making regular media appearances. He has previously been the chair of the Ornithological Section of the London Natural History Society. As well as birds he has expanded his knowledge to include butterflies and dragonflies. In 2018 he wrote an excellent book about birding within the London area, entitled Birdwatching London (Safe Haven Books). (Picture Credit: Mark Gash, Turnstone Ecology Ltd, 2018).

Stuart Newson is a Senior Research Ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology, where he is involved in survey design and data analysis from national citizen-science surveys. While birds have been the core of his work, he also has an interest in bats and acoustic monitoring in particular, how technology can deliver opportunities for conservation and provide ways to engage with large audiences. Stuart set up the Norfolk Bat Survey in 2013, a novel citizen-science approach enabling unprecedented large-scale bat recording using static acoustic detectors, an approach which has since been extended to other parts of the UK. While working on bats, he became interested in bush-crickets, which are recorded as bycatch, and more recently in the sound identification of other mammals. Stuart is also a member of Natural Englands Bat Expert Panel.

Matt Binstead is Head Keeper at the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey (www.britishwildlifecentre.co.uk), which is home to over 40 species of wild animal found living in Britain today. The Centre also plays an important role in carrying out captive breeding and release programmes. Everything, from harvest mouse to red deer, is housed in large natural enclosures, providing a real-life natural history lesson for the 10,000 people who visit each year. It is a privilege to share my passion and knowledge of British mammals with our visitors. Often overlooked for the more exotic species found abroad, it gives me a real buzz to see people light up when engaging with our own wonderful wildlife.

Keith French has lived in the countryside throughout his working life and has always had a keen interest in all flora and fauna. Working firstly with cattle and sheep, then as a gamekeeper on a small country estate, gave him daily access to the natural world. It was when he moved to Epping Forest, in 2001, that his interest in bats was born, and while attending a bat training course he met the author of this book and Andy Froud. This led to them working together on many bat-related studies, culminating in 2014 with the book