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How to Listen to Bats

As bats’ echolocation calls are above a human’s normal range of hearing (20Hz to 20kHz), we use a bat detector to listen to them. These devices convert the ultrasonic sounds to a frequency which we can hear.

Different species use specific frequency ranges in their echolocation, which can help us to identify the species around us.

Here, Debs demonstrates the use of a Batscanner which displays the frequency of the call as well as playing an audible rendition of the bat’s hunting sounds. Using this, we were able to determine that there were both common Common and Soprano pipistrelles and the amazing Greater horseshoe bat foraging over this field in Buckfastleigh.

SpeciesFrequency
Soprano PipistrelleThe peak frequency is above 50 kHz (typically 52-55)
Common PipistrelleThe peak frequency is below 50 kHz (typically 43-46)
Greater Horseshoe Bat Peak frequency is just above 80 kHz

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Species Guide: The Adder

The whole snake family has a rather strange evolutionary history.  Snakes’ ancient ancestors (who were also the ancestors of lizards) progressed from above-ground life, to living and moving about underground, burrowing through the earth. This subterranean lifestyle meant they’ve evolved to have relatively poor eyesight. To compensate, snakes picture their surroundings using their tongues, which collect chemicals in the air. On retracting the tongue, this transfers the chemicals to their ‘smell’ organ (called Jacobson’s organ).  The adder (Vipera berus) is, of course, also unique in being Britain’s only venomous snake. They use venom to help kill their prey, small mammals and chicks. But adders should not be feared – they will only bite you to defend themselves from a serious threat, like being handled or stepped on.

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Creative Encounters with the Natural World: Some Prompts for Writing and Visual Art

Our natural environment has been a fertile area of inspiration for writers, artists and all manner of creative folk, ever since ancient humans began to paint on cave walls. Engaging with nature can help us forget our egos, worries and daily frustrations – and encourages our imaginations to inhabit a different world. That said, creativity doesn’t always flow spontaneously. We often need a bit of direction to get started – and this is what prompts are for. Read on for a selection of activity prompts inspired by nature and wildlife…

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Species Guide: The Common Frog

During the last month, the warm weather has sent frogs in search of somewhere to cool down – and should you have a suitable pond in your garden, frogs will discover it surprisingly rapidly. We recently built a small garden pond, and within three weeks, we found a little juvenile frog enjoying a swim. The common frog (Rana temporaria) is one of two native frog species in mainland Britain; the other is the pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae). The native populations of pool frog became extinct a few decades ago, but there have been attempts at re-introducing it. There is another native UK species, the agile frog (Rana dalmatina), but it is only native to, and found in, one site in Jersey.

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A Round-Up of Citizen Science Wildlife Projects

Thanks to the internet, the public can easily contribute to research about UK wildlife – in a multitude of areas. A large number of charities, conservation groups and research organisations offer ‘citizen science’ projects. Citizen science is volunteering centred around information-gathering. Some projects involve measuring data, some involve tagging images, and identifying species.

Many projects take the form of simple surveys you can do from home, or from your local area. Some surveys focus on whole ecosystems, like woodlands or rivers, while others concentrate on a single species.  And there are a vast range of animals to survey too, no matter whether you’re interested in hedgehogs, seabirds, garden birds, moths or bats. There are so many different surveys to choose from, I’ve rounded up a selection below.

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How does noise pollution affect wildlife?

The roads and skies of the UK have been quieter than ever during the lockdown. The peace and stillness has been remarkable – and many of us hadn’t experienced anything like it before. That we felt this way reveals just how used we’ve become to incessant background noise. Even while walking in the deep countryside, you can hear the faint thundering of motorways and the rasping of jet engines.  

There is emerging evidence that noise pollution is bad for our health. But what about how noise pollution might be affecting the natural world? Well, luckily, academic interest is growing in this topic, with many scientists and researchers now investigating how noise might be impacting various species. So what sort of noise is involved, which animals are affected, and how?

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Species Guide: The Slow Worm

Slow worms (Anguis fragilis) are living evidence that names and appearances can be deceptive. The first thing anyone will tell you about a slow worm is that it is a lizard, not a snake. They look similar to snakes, because these lizards have evolved in such a way that they no longer need legs – a similar evolutionary process that gave rise to the snakes. 

There are some tell-tale signs that these little creatures are lizards. They have eyelids, and blink; snakes, on the other hand, don’t. Slow worms’ tongues are rounded – in contrast to snakes, who have unmistakable forked tongues.  Like many other lizards, the slow worm can detach its tail when trying to escape from a predator. And a slow worm’s head is usually the same width as its body – that is, there’s no narrowing behind their heads – whereas snakes have an obvious ‘neck’.

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