S5E55 Sat in the entrance to a cave in Wales, hidden amongst temperate rainforest, Richard Crompton gives you his insight into the best way to go about getting your bat licence. Richard has been training ecologists for many years now with around 400 people coming to his courses over the years. In this episode you'll hear about the different bodies that give licences, the different levels of licences and what they allow you to do, which one you should aim for as a consultant ecologist and the sort of activities that are most useful. We also hear about Richard's journey into bat conservation and ..read more

S5E54 This week Steve sits down with Joanne Hodgkins, nature conservation advisor for the National Trust. Sitting in the hot August sunshine at The Vyne near Basingstoke, Steve finds out how the National Trust cares not just for it's special places, but for it's special wildlife. Jo explains how bats are now a day to day part of her role at the Trust, how bats are at the centre of most projects on their Estates and how bat groups are an important part of the story. Find the National Trust on twitter and Instagram Bats at the National Trust webpages Bats and historic buildings Thank you to Wi ..read more

S5E53 This week we join David King who created the BatBox III and BatBox Duet detectors amongst several others for four decades. David tells Steve of how it all came about and they delve into the history of bat detecting, how the Bat Detective book and CD was created and we get an insight into his views on the future of technology used by ecologists and conservationists alike.   Find David on twitter and Instagram BatBox Ltd for their range of bat detectors The Bat Detective book and CD Want to find out more about bat detecting? Take a look at our guide. Thank you to Wildlife Acoustics ..read more

S5E52 Steve calls in to Canberra, Australia to chat with Dr Debbie Saunders.  For over 20 years Debbie has worked as an ecologist and studied the movements of small migratory birds. This includes the Swift Parrot, one of Australia’s most endangered birds. Like many small animals, Swift Parrots could only be tracked with tiny, very high frequency (VHF) radio-tags. This meant that in order to understand their movements, researchers would have to regularly trek vast distances with handheld receivers to search for each tagged bird, one at a time. But because the Swift Parrot is a highly mobil ..read more

S5E51 Join Steve in early summer on the Island of Jersey as he sits down with a trio from the bat group. In this interview we hear about the historic work of the group and the sort of survey work being done at the moment on the Island. With 18 bat species recorded on this 46 square miles of land just off the French coast, we hear there's still plenty more to be discovered.  Discover more about Jersey Bat Group and follow them on twitter, facebook and Instagram Watch the Jersey Bat Project video. Hugh the Bat is the face of the campaign. He is named after the late Hugh Forshaw, who was a ..read more

S5E50 On the edge of Kidderminster lies Hurcott Pool and Wood Nature Reserve. An old boathouse on the edge of the pool has been repurposed by Worcestershire Bat Group and a few minutes away lies Lea Castle Village where the street lighting has been designed with bats at the forefront of its design. We join bat group members Cody Levine and Matthew Terry on a summer evening at the end of July.  Watch a video of the boathouse on YouTube Discover more about Worcestershire Bat Group and follow them on twitter, facebook and Instagram Take a look at the Wyre Forest page on Hurcott. Read about ..read more

S5E49 This week we join BCT member Mark Ferguson who has just released his latest album; Walking With Bats. What does it sound like to go bat detecting? From start to finish, this question has underpinned Walking with Bats. Mark's main goal throughout the album's development has been simple: to transport listeners directly to the field, placing their ears where his are so they can experience the excitement of bat detecting through their own headphones.   Find the album on Mark's website or here on Bandcamp Read Mark's blog on the BCT website Want to find out more about bat detecting? Tak ..read more

S5E48 Jersey Zoo in the Channel Islands is home to 90% of the world's captive population of Livingstone's fruit bats. With an estimated 1300 in the wild, this captive breeding programme is vital to the survival of the species in a disaster event. We join Dominic Wormell inside the bat enclosure as he explains how they care for the colony and how the bats are received by the visiting public. Discover more about the colony here Have a listen to our other zoo episode from Chester Zoo More about the species on the BCI website Bat to the Future instalment 3...Louis-Jean-Marie D’Aubenton. A new feat ..read more

S5E47 On the edge of the Cotswolds lies Lacock Abbey, home to Professor Quirrel's classroom and the Mirror of Erised. But whilst millions of people will recognise the Cloisters of the Abbey used in the filming of the Harry Potter franchise, a rather special spectacle can be found here once the sun goes down. A soprano pipistrelle bat roost hidden in the roof of Sharrington's tower is regurgitated each evening from the mouths of the gargoyles that surround the tower. We join Wendy Priest as she undertakes a count for the National Bat Monitoring Programme on a calm June evening.  Follow We ..read more

S5E46 Hidden in west Dorset is a nature reserve which holds a very special secret. A bat box scheme which was installed in the late 1990's is home to one of the most well-studied colonies of Bechstein's bats. Join Steve as he spends the day with the Vincent Wildlife Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust as they undertake one of their monthly inspections of the boxes, adding to this really important data which has been collected over the last quarter of a century. We hear from Patrick Wright, VWTs senior scientific officer about the history of the scheme and what new discoveries are being made, Steve ..read more