I'm running for bat poo!

A lovely woodland on a beautiful evening
(Photo: Philip Brown)

Tonight, (Saturday 28^th September) I will be surveying at woodland number 45, my last site. It will be the end of a very long but very very enjoyable summer. I’ve met lots of interesting people, visited some lovely woodlands, seen nearly the full range of UK bat species and caught well over 250 bats!

The previous blog takes us up to August Bank Holiday, but don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about the sites I’ve surveyed since then, I’ll be posting about my activities between the end of August and now over the coming weeks.

I have collected droppings from Brandt’s, Whiskered and Alcathoe bats from up and down the country and various people have been kind enough to send me poo from bats that they have caught. I now need to get all of that poo analysed to work out exactly which species I have caught. Unfortunately I have been unable to secure funding to cover these costs which will be in the region of £2000-£2500 (I’m still waiting for some droppings to be sent to me and a couple of quotes to come back before I can work out an exact figure). Some bat groups have very kindly offered to pay for records from their counties and some individuals have agreed to pay for the analysis of droppings that they have sent to me, but this still leaves me a long way short of my total!

Is it a Brandt's, Whiskered or Alcathoe?
(Photo: Andy Shurbourne)

To try and cover at least some of the remaining costs I am going to be raising money by getting sponsorship for running the Leicester Half Marathon on Sunday 13^th October. If you would like to sponsor me I would be really grateful. Any amount is welcome and if you want to sponsor me through a company or organisation you would be mentioned in presentations and publications where appropriate.

In terms of where your money goes, in a "£5 will feed a family of six for a week", or
"£15 will buy exercise books for a whole school", kind of way, around £30 will cover the cost of analysis of one dropping.

If you are unaware as to why I am analysing bat poo and what this is all about have a look at the earlier blogs: The stage is set – August 16^th, and Poo Tastic – August 18^th. If you’ve not got time to read them, here are my research aims in a very small nutshell:

I am looking to describe the distribution of a new bat species to the UK and need to analyse the poo to check which species I have as this new bat species looks very very very similar to two other bat species.

If you would like to sponsor me please visit http://doodle.com/3gdu7dfy3phrsrkg click how much you would like to sponsor and enter your name and how I know you (e.g. Family, *** Bat Group, Friend, Volunteer at *** Wood) so I can contact you once I have completed the half marathon to collect sponsorship. If I do not know you, or am not likely to have your email address please send an email to philip.brown@bristol.ac.uk so I can get in contact with you to collect sponsorship. If you are wondering why I am not doing this through Just Giving or a similar donations page it is because “Phil’s Bat Poo Fund” is not a registered charity!

Bungeeing a tree out of the way to make
space for the harp trap
(Photo: Nicola Powell)

The half marathon is two weeks away now. Up until this point my training has been:

a) Walking multiple miles around woodlands every night,

b) Carrying heavy bat catching equipment to and from my car multiple times a day,

c) Occasionally wrestling with a tree to bend it out of the way to create the ideal space for my trap.

d) One six mile run with my dad last Tuesday before a survey, after which my calves were so tight they felt like they were going to snap!

I’m not quite sure how I am going to cope with 13 miles! I’d better get busy training over these next two weeks!

Keep checking back to see how my training is going (and how I did, once complete), how my surveys in September went and to see what sort of results I am getting from my data!

I am studying for a self-funded MSc at the University of Bristol with equipment and support from the Bat Conservation Trust http://www.bats.org.uk/ and training and guidance from Daniel Whitby of AEWC Ltd. If you would like to contact me about my research please email: philip.brown@bristol.ac.uk