Talking Bat

Every month Aileen Hendry (BatAbility Courses & Tuition) is joined by Neil Middleton to deliver a 'light-hearted' monthly update for our BatAbility Club members. We are sharing it here for the benefit of anyone who wishes to find out more about what we are up to. If you are not a Club member, but would like to know more about how to join up, please go to the following link: batability.co.uk/ba...

Fiona Mathews is highly respected internationally for her academic work on mammals (including bats) & other subjects. She is the founding chair of Mammal Conservation Europe , a former chair of the Mammal Society, a trustee of the Kasanka Trust (UK), the co-founder & director of Ecotype Genetics Ltd , & also serves on the Eurobats Scientific Advisory Committee. Add to all that, her rec...

Many have listened to him on Birder's Twitter, so we felt we should get him on here for an interview & find out more about Jonny Rankin who is well known & highly respected within birding circles. And we certainly ticked all the boxes as we explored Jonny's backstory, his extreme fundraising activities ( Dove Step & Tern The Tide ), as well as more background about Birder's Twitter, &a...

If you deal with Titley Scientific in Europe then the chances are you have had the pleasure of meeting (or at least communicating with) their UK/Europe Sales Support Manager, Andrew Dobson. We felt it would be great to let you find out so much more about the person behind the products & services they distribute in Europe, & this interview certainly gets well into Andrew's background prior...

Dr Hannah Mueller recently set up her own environmental/ecological consultancy in New Zealand ( Phoenix Ecology Ltd ). She is an ecologist with expertise in a wide range of ecological matters, with a key focus on finding management solutions to environmental challenges that work with nature’s principles & restore ecosystems using a landscape-scale approach. During this interview we talk about...

Every month Aileen Hendry (BatAbility Courses & Tuition) is joined by Neil Middleton to deliver a 'light-hearted' monthly update for our BatAbility Club members. We are sharing it here for the benefit of anyone who wishes to find out more about what we are up to. If you are not a Club member, but would like to know more about how to join up, please go to the following link: batability.co.uk/ba...

Dean Waters is highly respected within the world of bats & academia for his research, separate to which he describes himself as an Ecology, Acoustics & Imaging Consultant, as well as a mediocre photographer. During this interview we explore his back story, as well as discussing some of his research interests, which include bat biology, conservation, bioacoustics & biomimetics (using bi...

Miranda Collett spends her time between Jersey & Argentina. She certainly has an interesting life story, & during this interview we learn all about her professional career, which lead up to the purchase of some land in Corrientes (Argentina) & the creation of a 4,000 acre conservation area dedicated to preserving endangered species & defending the habitats that are essential for th...

She's back for a second time on Talking Bat. This time we speak to the award winning Anne Youngman (former BCT Scottish Officer) about her first ultra-marathon experience (before & after), all in support of Bats Without Borders. Did she make? You will have to listen to find out :-). We certainly had lots of fun chatting, & Anne is such an inspirationally infectious character, which shines...

Hugely respected & recognised for his contributions to bat conservation, Roger Ransome began studying bats in 1956, completing his PhD in 1979. He is a Linnean Society Award winner for Contributions By An Amateur Towards Scientific Progress, as well as having received the Pete Guest Award (2010) from BCT. Much of what we know about Greater horseshoe bats comes from the work he, & many othe...

It's great to have Nils Bouillard back for a second interview here on our channel, this time we focus on the background to his recently published book: Big Bat Year - A Conservation Story (published 2023) . Follow Nils on Twitter: @NilsBouillard

Every month Aileen Hendry (BatAbility Courses & Tuition) is joined by Neil Middleton to deliver a 'light-hearted' monthly update for our BatAbility Club members. We are sharing it here for the benefit of anyone who wishes to find out more about what we are up to. If you are not a Club member, but would like to know more about how to join up, please go to the following link: batability.co.uk/ba...

When we recorded this interview Henry Schofield had recently retired as Head of Conservation at Vincent Wildlife Trust, where he had worked for over 30 years. During his time with the trust he was involved with many bat-related projects (as well as other species groups), including extensively with horseshoe species. Here we explore his life journey to date, as well as talking about some of his res...

Katheryn Leggat has had an amazing life story to date, which we really enjoyed chatting about during this session. It was also an opportunity for us to find out all about Kasanka National Park in Zambia, home for so much wildlife including the 10 million straw-coloured fruit bats that migrate into the area every year - the largest migration event for any mammal species anywhere on the planet. Kasa...

^o^ Something just for our podcast audience. Sometimes light-hearted, occasionally a little more serious! Here are some random thoughts from your Talking Bat host, Neil Middleton :-) Email address for feedback: neil.middleton@batability.co.uk

Here we have the huge pleasure of 'Talking...' with Mister Mustelid (aka Dr Johnny Birks) about his lifelong passion & career journey involving many roles within the ecology sector. All of this leading to lots of experiences, achievements & challenges along the way.  Learn about Johnny's work on ResearchGate Visit NHBS Ltd to see books by Johnny Birks Visit Extinction Rebellion here

During this interview Maggie Andrews shares some of her earlier memories relating to studying bats (in particular horseshoe species), along with a deeper look into some of the research she has been involved with in conjunction with her late husband Peter Andrews & others (e.g. Tom McOwat & Amelia Hodnett).   Read about Maggie's work here on ResearchGate Visit Woodchester Mansion - find out...

Michael Sheldrick is the Co-Founder & Chief Policy, Impact, & Government Affairs Officer at Global Citizen . Their  initiatives have reached millions of people & secured $billions in support to provide access to essential resources worldwide. During this interview we explore Michael's back story, as well as the work of Global Citizen, leading us on to discuss, in some detail, his new b...

In 1985 Bernard Mercer founded NHBS Ltd , & during this interview we get a fascinating insight into the background of the business, & how it has developed over the years to become one of the largest, if not the largest, organisations of its type on the planet. But there is so much more to the story than may immediately meet the eye, & during this session it was so interesting to explor...

Here we have the pleasure of interviewing Henry Andrews, the driving force behind the habitat keys & books entitled ' Bat Roosts In Trees ' & ' Bat Roosts In Rock '. As well as covering the backdrop to the books in some detail, we also explore Henry's career path within the ecology sector.

Every month Aileen Hendry (BatAbility Courses & Tuition) is joined by Neil Middleton to deliver a 'light-hearted' monthly update for our BatAbility Club members. We are sharing it here for the benefit of anyone who wishes to find out more about what we are up to. If you are not a Club member, but would like to know more about how to join up, please go to the following link: batability.co.uk/ba...

Daniel Hargreaves is well know & highly respected within the world of bats, & during this session we talk about his exciting life journey from becoming interested in bats as a child through to being involved in projects & adventures around the world. At the time of recording our conversation Daniel had recently taken on the role of Bat Programme Manager at Vincent Wildlife Trust , &amp...

Laura Torrent is a PhD student studying bat taxonomy, ecology & conservation in Equatorial Guinea (west coast of central Africa), working in collaboration with Natural Science Museum of Granollers; University of Porto; CIBIO-InBIO; Doñana Biological Station & Biodiversity Initiative. This interview explores her bat-related work to date, including details about her research & the challe...

John Haddow ( Auritus Bat Consultancy ) is a highly respected bat-worker (& so much more) based in Scotland, & a previous winner of the BCTs Pete Guest Award. His interest in bats started before bats were collectively protected within the UK, & before BCT even existed. During this interview he gives an excellent historical insight into bat conservation since the 1970s. We also talk at...

Marc Van De Sijpe is an internationally respected bat researcher based in Belgium, especially known for his work on the European 'trawling' bat species - Daubenton's bat, Pond bat & Long-fingered bat. Here we chat to him about his back-story, early years doing bat work in Belgium, as well as looking in more detail at his research & contributions to our knowledge & understanding of Euro...