North of England Bat Conference

I gave up my Saturday morning lie in for a 9am start at the Bat Conservation Trust North of England conference at Leeds Carnegie.  There was an interesting programme of talks throughout the day.  Two in particular stuck with me, and both unfortunately are related to the challenges bats face.  The first was about white nose syndrome, a fungal disease Geomyces destructans that has had a devastating impact in the eastern United States. This raised questions about the impact on the wider environment, such as increase in insect numbers and the knock on impact this could have (eg. wider use of insecticides). It was interesting that this is present in Europe but so far we are not seeing the same harmful effects.  In contrast, the second was around engineering/technology, and the impact of breathable roofing membrane (BRM). Bats can become entangled in the fine, long polymer chains of the plasticised material, so whilst this new material is an advance in building design, it is having a negative impact on bat colonies, with tens of bats being killed in some roosts.

In the afternoon, I attended a workshop entitled ‘Introduction to Sound Analysis’. It was interesting to learn about the different frequencies and patterns of bat calls, and we had the opportunity to practice using BatSound software to analyse some sounds, with a short test at the end.  This has inspired me to find out more about this type of fieldwork.