BatChat

Science Podcasts

Steve Roe talks to the experts as well as local heroes to bring you the stories from the bat conservation movement. Designed for both Bat Conservation Trust members and the wider bat conservation community, Series 2 will have episodes released every second Wednesday from autumn 2020 all the way through to the spring of 2021. Bats are magical but misunderstood mammals. At the Bat Conservation Trust we have a vision of a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together.

Steve Roe talks to the experts as well as local heroes to bring you the stories from the bat conservation movement. Designed for both Bat Conservation Trust members and the wider bat conservation community, Series 2 will have episodes released every second Wednesday from autumn 2020 all the way through to the spring of 2021. Bats are magical but misunderstood mammals. At the Bat Conservation Trust we have a vision of a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together.

Location:

United Kingdom

Genres:

Science Podcasts

Description:

Twitter:

@_BCT_

Language:

English

Contact:

07783435736

Website:

https://www.bats.org.uk/

Email:

comms@bats.org.uk

Episodes

Woodland Symposium

2/17/2021

The 2020 Woodland Symposium was hosted by BCT, six years after the inaugural symposium. It bought together landowners, ecologists, bat workers and professionals from the woodland and forestry industry to listen to talks from 15 speakers covering research, knowledge updates and case studies on woodlands and bats. We hear from three of those speakers as well as a couple of the 11 students who had been given a place at the conference by bursaries offered by the Back from the Brink project...

Duration:00:43:36

Chester Zoo - Twilight Zone

2/3/2021

Chester Zoo is the most visited zoo in the UK with over 2 million visitors a year. It's also a conservation and education charity committed to preventing extinction. The fruit bat forest in the Twilight Zone exhibition is a fantastic visitor experience; Steve joins Dave White, the manager of the Twilight Zone, who explains how it's also used as an insurance population for the endangered Rodrigues fruit bat Pteropus rodricensis which is only found on the island of Rodrigues. Dr Claire Raisin...

Duration:00:54:01

Going Underground on a Hibernation Survey

1/20/2021

Steve joins Helen Ball and other members of Staffordshire Bat Group as they undertake a winter hibernation survey for the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP). Recorded in February 2020 in the Staffordshire Peak District, they undertake the latest survey of disused lead mines searching for bats deep in torpor. Helen reveals what it's like to undertake the survey (it's a VERY steep hillside!) and what sort of things you're likely to find in old mine adits. Apart from the bats - lots of...

Duration:00:23:09

Our CEO, Kit Stoner

1/6/2021

The Bat Conservation Trust is a small conservation charity but undertakes a vast amount of work in their aim to conserve bats. During the runup to Christmas, Steve spoke with their Chief Executive Officer, Kit Stoner, to find out what it's like to run a small but busy charity, the current challenges and whether she manages to get out and do bat work in her spare time after work! twitterBritish Bat Surveythe work we doJoin the podcast conversation on social media using #BatChat: Facebook:...

Duration:00:25:28

Sue Swift & friends at the Scottish Bat Conference

12/23/2020

In November 2019 before the word Coronavirus had become all-too familiar, the Scottish Bat Conference was taking place in Perth. In this episode Steve speaks to Liz Ferrell BCT's Scottish bat officer, Sue Swift who published the authoritative work on long-eared bats and Tracey Jolliffe who has an interest in zoonotic diseases and discusses bats and rabies. Book your place at the 2021 Scottish Bat Conference hereScottish bat group heretwittertwitterlong-eared bats hereTell us what your...

Duration:00:29:27

Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project with Helen Parr

12/9/2020

The weather has certainly got chilly in the last few days, but back in late October, it was still mild and Steve visited a bat colony which was still in residence in its summer roost. He meets up with Helen Parr, community engagement officer for the Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project. They discuss how the project has been received by the community over the last five years and what achievements its had whilst wandering around the countryside of the south-west, visiting the habitats that the...

Duration:00:39:05

Dr Winifred Frick - Bat Conservation International

11/25/2020

Winifred is the Chief Scientist at Bat Conservation International as well as an associate research professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In this episode, Steve finds out about the discovery Winifred made about the ecology of Pallid bats whilst undertaking her PhD out in the deserts and chats to her about her work as a key scientist in the efforts to research the effects of White-Nose Syndrome, informing long-term management actions. The...

Duration:00:44:56

Gardening for bats with Joel Ashton

11/11/2020

Remember seeing bats over your garden years ago and suddenly realised that they've vanished over time? Wildlife garden landscaper Joel Ashton reveals how you can help attract bats to your greenspace by greening up a fence and planting certain species to increase insect diversity which in turn will provide your local bats with a buffet! At the Bat Conservation Trust we have a vision of a world rich in wildlife where bats and people thrive together and Joel is helping achieve that vision, one...

Duration:00:34:24

Chris Packham

10/28/2020

A camping trip in the New Forest was the first sighting of bats that broadcaster, naturalist and writer Chris Packham had. He became the president of the Bat Conservation Trust in 2006 and in this episode recorded during the 2020 lockdown, Steve Roe asks Chris what it was about the Trust that made him want to become President. Chris tells us about the time he had serotine bats flying around his house whilst watching a European cup final and reveals some of the bat encounters he's had during...

Duration:00:40:47

Bats & Coronavirus

5/7/2020

In this bonus episode recorded during the UK lockdown, we have two guests on the show. Tom August is a scientist based at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Lisa Worledge is Head of Conservation Services at the Bat Conservation Trust. They talk to Steve about the interest that bats are currently getting in the press around the origins of the current COVID-19 pandemic, what bats can teach us about future pandemics and how some bat species have been practicing social distancing far...

Duration:00:35:52

Bat Care

4/1/2020

This week we have two guests on the show. Hannah Van Hesteren is one of the Helpline Managers at the Bat Conservation Trust. She talks to Steve about the vital work the Helpline does each summer when it takes hundreds of calls each day from members of the public who have found an injured or grounded bat. Gail Armstrong was the recipient of the Pete Guest Award in 2019 for her outstanding practical contribution to bat conservation. Over the last 25 years, Gail estimates she's cared for 800...

Duration:00:26:10

Bats and Trees with Jim Mullholland

3/18/2020

Despite a number of our bats using trees as roost sites, we know surprisingly little about how bats use trees. In this episode Steve sits down with veteran tree expert Jim Mullholland from the Arboricultural Association and discusses what we still don't know about the ecology of bats and trees. Jim also touches on a project he's been working on recently using trail cameras as a surveillance technique to help understand this subject. Jim has a YouTube channel with a number of videos of bats...

Duration:00:21:17

Life as an Island Bat Group

3/4/2020

The British Isles have a large number of islands around its coasts and some of these have bat groups. In this episode Steve discusses the challenges of being an isolated voluntary group with Carol Williams who is the secretary of the Isles of Scilly Bat Group and with Ani Binet who until recently was a resident on Jersey in the Channel Islands and an active member of the Jersey Bat Group. There is also some news hot off the press from the Isle of Man Bat Group. You can read more about the...

Duration:00:24:54

A Churnet Chiroptera Conundrum

2/19/2020

Steve heads to the Churnet valley in north Staffordshire to join Staffordshire Bat Group members Helen Ball and David Nixon for the day. Helen explains how a colony of Brandt's bats in one of their bat box schemes (started by the Vincent Wildlife Trust) have become one of the main study subjects in their small Myotis bat project which is taking place across the Churnet valley. In the evening, Dave explains the aims of the advanced bat survey techniques they're using out in the field to help...

Duration:00:16:39

James Shipman

2/5/2020

James has been involved in bat conservation since 2010 and has been involved in a variety of projects in that time including setting up Gib-Bats (the Gibraltar Bats Project) in 2013. In 2016 he was awarded the Bat Conservation Trust's Pete Guest Award for making an outstanding practical contribution to bat conservation. In this episode Steve joins James at a bat box check event just outside of Greenham Common in Newbury Berkshire before driving over to Bath to undertake some evening bat...

Duration:00:12:52

Natural History Museum - Part 2

1/22/2020

This is the second installment of a two-part special recorded at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London. This time Steve Roe talks with Roberto Portela Miguez who is the senior curator in charge of mammals at the Museum. Roberto tells the tale of how he and colleagues discovered that a bat preserved in a jar of alcohol which had sat on a shelf in the collections for 30 years was actually a new species to science. He also discusses what role the vast Chiroptera collection at...

Duration:00:23:56

Natural History Museum - Part 1

1/8/2020

This is the first of a two-part special recorded at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London. In this first half Steve Roe talks with Steph West who is the Biodiversity Training Manager at the Museum based within the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity. Steph discusses the need to train the next generation of natural historians using the Museum's scientists to decant their knowledge as well as some of the bat surveys she gets to undertake on the Museum's Estates and why...

Duration:00:25:15

A Wonderful Weekend in Wales

12/18/2019

Episode five was recorded in May at the Wales Bat Worker’s weekend. The weekend brings together bat workers from across Wales and further afield and Steve speaks to four of them in this episode. Naomi Webster the is the Training & Conferences manager at BCT and gives an insight into what happens at a BCT event. Steve Lucas is the Wales Bat Officer and Species Legislation & Policy Specialist. He talks about bat work in Wales and what Brexit might mean for bat conservation. Denise Foster...

Duration:00:27:29

Nathusius' Enthusiasts

12/4/2019

In our fourth episode, Steve joins bat legend Daniel Hargreaves on an autumnal evening in Rye Harbour Nature Reserve on the coastal boundary of Sussex and Kent in the search of Nathusius’ pipistrelle. Dan gives us an insight into the ecology of this migratory species and what discoveries the National Nathusius’ pipistrelle project has had to date in its five year history. Dan is also responsible for setting up the successful ‘TriniBats’ project and describes how that project came about. The...

Duration:00:23:24

Shirley Thompson: The Past, Present & Future of Bat Conservation

11/20/2019

In our first episode, Shirley Thompson MBE describes how bat conservation in the UK started and some of the experiences she’s had along the way such as meeting Julian Clary for a wildlife documentary and catching a bat in Kent which had been rung in Lithuania! Shirley is the person who set up the Young Batworker’s club and has been editing the Young Batworker magazine for over 30 years and she talks about how children’s communication has changed over the years. To find out more about...

Duration:00:16:25