Social Calls of the Bats of Britain and Ireland

by Neil Middleton, Andrew Froud, Keith French

Overview

The social calls of bats are an area about which relatively little is known, with more research still required to expand our understanding. However, these calls are increasingly recognised as a useful aid to identification: they appear to be species specific and are indicative of behaviour – as in territorial activity of males during the mating season. Because the gathering and interpretation of bat echolocation data are a matter of course during research, conservation and consultancy, it is a logical progression to build momentum behind the consideration of social calls in mainstream bat-related work. A better understanding of this subject could mean that non-intrusive survey methods are developed, ensuring that what is being observed is, as far as possible, purely natural behaviour. In turn this will contribute to better interpretation and more suitable mitigation, compensation and/or enhancement solutions.

The book summarises what is understood so far about social calls of the bat species occurring in Britain and Ireland, and north-west Europe. This new edition has been updated and expanded throughout, now containing:

• foreword by the bat authority Michel Barataud, author of Acoustic Ecology of European Bats
• almost double the number of figures and tables as appeared in the first edition
• completely overhauled call library, all in full spectrum format, with new additional examples
• three entirely new chapters, covering bat-related acoustics, settings for social interaction, and survey guidelines

The material will be useful to people carrying out bat studies, at whatever level and for whatever purpose, and will also encourage others to undertake further research. What's more, social calls are fascinating to listen to: they are, after all, produced with listeners in mind (other bats). In light of this, the book is accompanied by an extensive downloadable library of sound files which offer a unique gateway into the private life of bats.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781784273781
Publisher:	Pelagic Publishing
Publication date:	07/31/2022
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.28(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Neil Middleton is a licensed bat worker and trainer, with 20 years experience, having carried out most of his bat related work within the UK and Europe (Ireland, Cyprus, France, Spain and Hungary). He is the managing director of Echoes Ecology Ltd (www.echoesecology.co.uk), an ecological consultancy he established in Scotland during 2006. Neil has been involved with many bat related projects to date, including the Bats & The Millennium Link (BaTML) project which he set up to study the use of canal corridors by bats in Scotland (www.batml.org.uk). Neil is an accomplished trainer across a wide range of bat related subjects, having developed and delivered well over a 100 events to date. Neil first came across his co-authors, Andrew and Keith, whilst they all attended a bat course in Somerset during 2004, an event that not only inspired all three of them, but also was the beginning of a long friendship as they explored many bat related subjects together, including the material for this book.

Andrew Froud is an ‘Ecologist’ working for the City of London, within Epping Forest (Essex). He is a licensed bat worker with over 10 years experience. In 2006, together with Keith French, he set up a 6 year research project, within a small part of Epping Forest, to examine habitat usage by bats in conjunction with the impact of habitat changes brought on by the sites Conservation Management Plan. Andrew’s initial interest in social calls came about when he and Keith discovered the first known lekking Nathusius’ pipistrelle roosts for Essex on their site. Since then, he has been fascinated by the subject, and recorded many social calls across a wide range of species. In recent years Andrew has delivered presentations on this subject to course delegates, local bat groups and natural history groups.

Keith French has over 10 years’ experience with bat related work, and is a licensed bat worker, both living and working within Epping Forest (Essex), where he is employed by the City of London as ‘Head Forest Keeper’. Having a driven associate like Andrew Froud has helped fuel his enthusiasm to delve deeper into this complex and relatively un-researched subject. After recording their first Nathusius’ pipistrelle lekking in an ancient oak pollard, the search was on to record social calls from other species, especially Noctule and Myotis. Keith has also been keen to pass on the knowledge he has gained by giving guided walks, presentations and allowing volunteers the chance to improve their skills. He is well travelled, having been fortunate enough to observe and record bats in some exotic locations such as the Amazon, Croatia, Costa Rica, USA and several African countries.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Dr Sandie Sowler Preface Acknowledgements About the Authors Chapter 1 – An Overview of Bats within Britain and Ireland Chapter 2 – Introducing Bat Social Calls Chapter 3 – Classification of Social Calls Chapter 4 – Considerations in Survey Design Chapter 5 – Analysis of Social Calls Chapter 6 – Species Groups Bibliography References Index

Editorial Reviews

I recommend this book to all students, professionals and amateurs interested in developing their knowledge with this fascinating group of mammals.

Mammal News - Alan Linsdell

Great new book Social Calls of the Bats of Britain and Ireland offers excellent descriptions, classifications, and recommendations for collecting social calls of bats. The book has detailed species information that visually explains social calls, but the best part is the downloadable audio tracks! Excellent resource for identifying bats.

Organization for Bat Conservation - Rob Mies

A nice feature is the addition of downloadable sound files which enhance the descriptions and sonograms of the majority of the calls. This new book provides a great starting point for anyone setting out to study this topic.

Bat Conservation Trust e-Bulletin

The announced purpose of this book is to present a current overview, richly illustrated by picture and sound, to motivate Chiropterologists for greater consideration of this component at the border between acoustics and ethology. And in this aim, they are successful; we highly recommend this book, it being both useful and enjoyable at the same time.

Acta Chiropterologica - Michel Barataud

Many sounds produced by bats when not commuting or foraging are often lower in frequency than the species’ echolocation calls. These are assumed to be for communication, and are often grouped together and referred to as ’social calls’ although the purpose of many of these are not known. Clearly understanding these calls has the potential to improve our ability to identify species for species where the echolocation is similar, and to assist in interpreting behaviour (e.g. territorial behaviour of males during the mating season). This book is the first attempt to pull together and summarise the current knowledge of social calls of bats occurring within Britain and Ireland. This is a complex area of study, where there is still much to learn. However this book and downloadable call library does a really good job in highlighting the potential for social calls for understanding bats, and for making this information available to all. I know from my own work on bats in Norfolk, I have largely focused on echolocation calls, with another ground-breaking book published by Pelagic Publishing by Jon Russ on British Bat Calls: A Guide to Species Identification being my core reference. This new book on social calls is a perfect companion to this, and one which has already inspired me to look back at the recordings I have been getting this season. 

From the Publisher

Many sounds produced by bats when not commuting or foraging are often lower in frequency than the species’ echolocation calls. These are assumed to be for communication, and are often grouped together and referred to as ’social calls’ although the purpose of many of these are not known. Clearly understanding these calls has the potential to improve our ability to identify species for species where the echolocation is similar, and to assist in interpreting behaviour (e.g. territorial behaviour of males during the mating season).

This book is the first attempt to pull together and summarise the current knowledge of social calls of bats occurring within Britain and Ireland. This is a complex area of study, where there is still much to learn. However this book and downloadable call library does a really good job in highlighting the potential for social calls for understanding bats, and for making this information available to all. I know from my own work on bats in Norfolk, I have largely focused on echolocation calls, with another ground-breaking book published by Pelagic Publishing by Jon Russ on British Bat Calls: A Guide to Species Identification being my core reference. This new book on social calls is a perfect companion to this, and one which has already inspired me to look back at the recordings I have been getting this season.

Stuart Newson

BTO News