Field Notes from a Placement Year: Bats, Barn Owls & Britain's Rarest Reptiles
We're delighted to welcome Ellie, a BSc Conservation Biology and Ecology student from the University of Exeter, to The Ecology Co-op as part of her university placement year. Over the next six months Ellie will be gaining hands-on experience across a wide range of surveys and technical work, joining our ecologists in the field and behind the scenes. As part of her time with us, Ellie will be sharing monthly reflections in this blog series “Field Notes from a Placement Year'“ offering a student’s perspective on the world of ecological consultancy.
April and May have been some incredibly exciting and busy months at The Ecology Co-op, seeing the start of survey season!
Things learnt
These months I have been spending lots of time learning all things bats!
Following scoping assessments of buildings and trees, if features and evidence suggest the possibility of bat activity and use (for example droppings, potential roosting features, or bats themselves!), emergence surveys are carried out to gather further information. These involve the support of surveyors, night vision aids, infra-red lighting, and bat detectors. I have been learning and practising setting up the survey equipment, keeping my eyes peeled for bat activity, and ears listening for the ultrasonic echolocation calls picked up and emitted by the bat detector.
After my training was complete I began taking part in surveys. So far I have seen and heard a great variety of species: this has included many common and soprano pipistrelles, noctules, myotis sp, and serotines. There is also plenty of information that can be gathered visually, for example noctules and serotines are big bats in size and noctules characteristically fly very high. It has been so fascinating to learn all this information by observing it in the field!
Monthly highlights
During this time I had the opportunity to attend a monitoring survey for reptiles, at a location supporting smooth snake and sand lizards (therefore conducted under licence). These are the rarest reptiles in the UK and are found in mature and sandy heathland areas. Seeing a smooth snake was a great experience, and it is important to collect data from individuals to support ongoing conservation efforts.
Another highlight moment for these months was having a barn owl fly straight over me during a bat survey! There is something so magical about seeing these owls at dusk.