9th August 2024
(In)audible Presences is an ongoing, long-term exploration of the documentation practices associated with wildlife sound recording. Via an exhibited archive of typewritten A5 pages, the project challenges established approaches to sonic cataloguing, querying institutionally driven preferences for logical categorisation and notational accuracy. It calls for a creative renormalisation of how we document other species' sounds, encouraging experimental approaches to natural history archiving through the use of typewriter, paper and ink. By deliberately foregrounding inefficient/outdated methodologies for the description and transcription of wildlife sounds, (In)audible Presences seeks to destabilise the ‘digitised precision’ of current field-recording practice, drawing attention to the ambiguous, the incomplete, the unknown. And what better source materials for this process than the mysterious ultrasonic vocalisations of bats? Inherently inaudible to humans, propagating in darkness and lending themselves to myriad perceptual distortions, the rhythmically complex echolocations of British and Irish bat species (recorded using a handheld ultrasound detector) serve as a creative foundation for the archive, acting as aural scaffolds for textual rhythm and the articulation of field experience on paper. This is a free event.
Advanced Bat Survey Techniques - fully booked!
2nd September 2024
Combining 1 theory day online with three days and two nights in Dorset, attendees will be given theoretical and practical experiences of acoustic lures, harp traps, mist nets and radio tracking. The course will investigate the application of these techniques in line with the BCT’s Bat Surveys for Professional Ecologists: Good Practice Guidelines. The course is suitable for experienced bat surveyors wishing to gain practical experience towards obtaining advanced bat survey licences. It is also possible to just book the online theory day if you are already involved with practical activities locally. Data collected from the course will feed into current research taking place in the area. The field sites are in Dorset and 13 species of bats have been caught in the area.
Advanced Bat Survey Techniques - fully booked!
17th September 2024
Combining 1 theory day online with three days and two nights in Dorset, attendees will be given theoretical and practical experiences of acoustic lures, harp traps, mist nets and radio tracking. The course will investigate the application of these techniques in line with the BCT’s Bat Surveys for Professional Ecologists: Good Practice Guidelines. The course is suitable for experienced bat surveyors wishing to gain practical experience towards obtaining advanced bat survey licences. It is also possible to just book the online theory day if you are already involved with practical activities locally. Data collected from the course will feed into current research taking place in the area. The field sites are in Dorset and 13 species of bats have been caught in the area.
