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Bats and Roadside Mammals Survey Report 2005

1. Figure 2 Map showing the distribution of survey blocks Green single surveys Red repeated blocks and Blue z survey repeated 5 times 10 4 3 Bats 4 3 1 Bats encountered per kilometre The overall mean number of bats encountered for each species species group is presented in Table 1 Mean numbers of each bat species encountered per kilometre for each county region are presented in Table 5 in Appendix 3 Table 1 Overall mean bat encounters per kilometre Species Species group Bat encounters km Rank all bat species 1 628 common pipistrelle 0 947 1 soprano pipistrelle 0 340 2 unidentified pipistrelles 0 201 3 Nathusius pipistrelle 0 001 9 Myotis spp 0 024 6 Leisler s bat 0 007 8 noctule 0 041 5 serotine 0 045 4 unidentifed bats 0 021 7 4 3 2 Within night variation in the number of bat encounters The objective here was to test whether bat encounters varied with time of night Each nightly survey period was divided into 4 quarters of 30 minutes duration starting at the beginning of each survey 45 mins post sunset The total number of bat encounters was then summed for each quarter 4 3 2 1 All bat species There was a difference in bat encounters between quarters with maximum bats encountered in the 2 and 3 quarters and minimum in 1 and 4 quarters Figure 3 The total number of bat encounters
2. TQ5550 13 06 2005 61 50 2 1 5 1 TQ5550 Total 61 50 2 1 5 1 TQ7035 20 07 2005 80 55 11 13 TQ7035 Total 80 55 11 13 TQ8550 30 06 2005 62 43 9 8 1 TQ8550 Total 62 43 9 8 1 TRO0035 23 08 2005 60 45 4 9 1 1 TR0035 Total 60 45 4 9 1 1 TRO0050 04 08 2005 97 45 18 29 1 4 TRO0050 Total 97 45 18 29 1 4 TR1550 19 07 2005 73 46 16 6 4 1 TR1550 Total 73 46 16 6 4 1 Kent Total 461 301 63 70 7 2 8 2 4 NorCered SN4055 26 05 2005 159 73 57 32 1 1 1 1 1 SN4055 Total 159 73 57 32 1 1 1 1 1 SN6080 15 09 2005 204 83 50 39 16 SN6080 Total 204 83 50 39 16 SN7070 21 07 2005 113 66 24 21 1 1 16 08 2005 49 29 11 7 1 1 SN7070 Total 162 95 35 28 2 1 1 NorCered Total 525 251 142 99 3 1 1 2 18 Warks SO9055 29 09 2005 43 29 4 7 1 1 1 SO9055 Total 43 29 4 7 1 1 1 SP0570 30 07 2005 173 133 24 11 2 1 1 SP0570 Total 173 133 24 11 2 1 1 SP2055 14 08 2005 118 101 2 2 6 1 5 1 SP2055 Total 118 101 2 2 6 1 5 1 SP2070 25 05 2005 86 42 6 6 2 28 SP2070 Total 86 42 6 6 2 28 SP2085 20 06 2005 59 50 2 1 4 SP2085 Total 59 50 2 1 4 48 SP3555 23 06 2005 53 41 1 7 1 SP3555 Total 53 41 1 7 1 SP3570 02 05 2005 28 20 7 1 SP3570 Total 28 20 7 1 SP5070 17 07 2005 78 54 9 1 14 06 08 2005 55 50 3 1 1 SP5070 Total 133 104 3 10 2 14 Warks Total 693 520 41 45 21 4 54 4 3 blank blank blank blank Total blank Total Grand Total 4719 2744 985 582 70 19 119 129 60
3. 49 Table 4 Mammals encounters along transect routes Numbers in brackets indicate dead mammals 2 s D o o o o o c 5 l gt gj s El g 5 8 3 8 Si ala 21e 3 8 o 8 SAS lt 3 els 3 lt S Sle S S sSs g 5 29 S3 9 s El 8 el S el al el 8 el 5 o Avon ST6050 23 06 2005 1 5 ST6065 31 05 2005 2 1 1 ST6080 30 07 2005 9 1 2 ST7565 20 06 2005 6 1 Cardiff Vale SS8565 08 05 2005 3 Of Glamorgan SS8580 08 06 2005 1 ST0065 25 07 2005 05 08 2005 1 1 2 1 14 09 2005 1 ST0080 09 08 2005 2 1 ST1580 02 07 2005 1 1 1 CentScot NN5505 15 07 2005 1 1 NS4075 13 08 2005 1 1 20 NS5590 07 05 2005 2 NS7075 26 07 2005 4 1 1 70 NS7090 04 06 2005 1 4 1 70 NS8590 25 06 2005 1 1 20 Clyde NS2545 21 06 2005 1 1 1 2 5 NS2560 20 05 2005 2 5 1 9 1 NS4045 01 09 2005 2 1 60 NS4060 29 05 2005 4 1 60 NS5545 27 06 2005 2 1 22 08 2005 1 NS5560 25 07 2005 NS7060 27 07 2005 1 1 1 1 Dorset ST6005 16 08 2005 1 1 ST7520 18 08 2005 2 3 3 SY3090 14 09 2005 1 20 SY4590 07 09 2005 1 10 SY6075 31 05 2005 1 3 7 SY6090 15 07 2005 1 2 SY7590 14 07 2005 2 4 SY9090 10 06 2005 1
4. 7 Memory Map OS Ed 7 2 9 53 x SACO RONA Pn D D Z MAL AS Si Find Place GPS Overlay Map b you want simply go through the process again and select a different map 3 The Memory Map Window We recommend familiarising yourself with the following items Ree Map OSE x PITE A The route that you have travelled is Ka ES usually represented as a red solid A line B The point at which you are located at the present time is represented by a red circle with a flashing red spot in the centre IF THE CIRCLE IS WHITE AND NOT FLASHING THE DEVICE HAS NOT YET MANAGED TO LOCATE YOUR POSITION The MENU containing a list of options and settings Click here to zoom in Click here to zoom out Click here to toggle between the current view and the entire map Clicking here locks your location so that the map is displayed in the window with your current location in the centre at all times HU o Q 4 Zooming and Fixing Your Location You can zoom in and out of the map by using the zoom functions D E and F To ensure that your location is always fixed in the centre of the screen click the padlock icon G Notes Troubleshooting gt If the screen goes blank just tap on the screen to bring it back to life gt If the menu at the bottom of the screen disappears tap once or sometimes twice on the green icon in the bottom left hand side of the display gt On rare occa
5. including adjacent expanded snapshots should be treated as separate individuals and a new entry should be made on the form j When you reach the end of the track close it and open the next track in the sequence i e if you ve just been looking at 0405055P3075 03 then open 0405055P3075 04 k Keep going until you finish all the tracks on the CD there should be approximately 20 Note All rarer species Nathusius Leisler s horseshoes etc will be checked by BCT GRID REFERENCES FOR BATS Once you have analysed the sonograms on the CD you need to identify the grid references for each bat identified a b Have your BATS analysis sheet to hand and open up the Excel spreadsheet on the CD e g 040505SP3075 xls Note If you do not have Microsoft EXCEL there is an installation program on each CD to install the EXCEL viewer On the left hand side there will be a large table in red and blue To identify the correct grid reference altitude and distance for your bat call scroll down to locate the correct Track Number then identify the Time ms that is closest to the one you have written down for your bat on the BATS analysis sheet For example if you have identified a common pipistrelle on Track Number 2 at a time of 4000ms looking at the table below you would scroll down until you reached Track Number 2 in the far left hand column then scroll down further until you reach the Time ms in the next column that is closest to y
6. surveying different transects is removed Comparison of activity patterns of the Isle of Wight and the rest of the UK showed similar results indicating that the seasonality effect is not influenced by surveying different transects Recommendation The Isle of Wight should continue to take part in the project Peak frequencies of the echolocation calls of common and soprano pipistrelles There were no regional differences in the peak frequency of echolocation calls between common and soprano pipistrelles In a previous smaller scale study looking at peak frequencies of pipistrelle bats emerging from roosts Jones amp van Parijs 1993 found that there were no regional differences and this work supports their findings Recommendation Keep checking pipistrelle peak frequencies in other parts of the UK Mammals Volunteers enjoyed recording terrestrial mammals especially the live ones and as the majority of volunteers were from Bat Groups this helped to broaden their interest in wider mammalian conservation Through surveying transects in subsequent years it will be possible to identify hotspots of dead mammals where poor road design is resulting in mammal casualties Recommendation Continue to record mammals produce more mammal conservation material to the volunteers and increase the number and distribution of survey areas Comparison between terrestrial mammal species Although foxes and rabbits were by far the most encountered mam
7. 2 and 3 quarters showed similar encounter rates but there was a noticeably reduced encounter rate in the 4 quarter Figure 8 14 50 4 45 40 354 30 4 254 20 4 Total no of bat encounters 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Time period Figure 8 Total serotine bat encounters per time period Thus there were differences in the total number of bat encounters per time period which varied between species Peak numbers of bat encounters occurred for different species in the 1st 2nd or 3rd time periods but not for the 4th time period 4 3 3 Seasonal variation in the number of bat encounters The objective here was to test whether bat encounters varied with survey month The mean number of bat encounters was calculated for each month All bat species groups encounters were initially looked at followed by individual species 4 3 3 1 All bat species Peak encounters were recorded in July and August with June recording the lowest encounter rate Figure 10 2 m 1 8 1 6 4 14 4 o 2 S 124 o o o 14 w a 6 0 84 EI E 0 6 4 0 4 4 0 2 4 0 1 June July August September Month Figure 10 Mean number of bat encounters per kilometre for each survey month 4 3 3 2 Common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus Peak encounters were recorded in July and August with May June and September recording similar lower encounter rates Figure 11 14 4 1 24 1 4 2 m E 3 0 8 o E
8. Mitac Mio 168 with an integrated Global Positioning System GPS was used on each survey Digitised maps 1 50 000 were loaded into the PDA and Memory map software and through integration with GPS data enabled surveyors to identify their exact position at any time during the survey The above approach meant that all records had the potential to be geo referenced post survey through use of a novel software programme developed by Martin Newman the BCT IT consultant Surveyors used a flashing orange beacon to warn other road users of their slow speed Surveyors were provided with standardised recording sheets to record any mammals sighted dead or alive during the survey and to record additional survey details see Appendix 1 3 4 Surveying transects Prior to the start of the survey surveyors attached all equipment to the vehicle and ensured that all equipment was working Fresh batteries were placed in the detector to ensure maximum sensitivity The survey started 45 mins post sunset and the vehicle was driven at approximately 24 km hr 15 mph for about 2 hours On each survey night approximately 50 km were driven and 2 hours of recordings made 3 5 Recruiting local Bat Group Volunteers Bat groups were identified from Scotland and Wales by the BCT Scottish and Welsh Bat Officers and in England by the BCT Bat Group Officer Although the project aimed to recruit 5 Bat Groups a total of 10 Bat Groups took part in the project Within each gr
9. Total numbers of the top 7 other mammal species encountered were rabbits 167 bats 68 foxes 54 hedgehogs 20 mice 19 hares 10 and badgers 10 The total number of unidentified mammals was 11 The 5118 quality assured geo referenced mammal records collected are in the process of being made available to all via placement on the NBN Gateway Soprano pipistrelle bats were encountered more frequently in Scotland than England or Wales Significant differences in encounter rates of bats were found with respect to survey area environmental conditions time of night and month No significant regional differences were found in peak frequencies of either common or soprano pipistrelle bats There were significant differences in the number of rabbit and fox encounters between months There were differences in the proportion of mammal species encountered between Environmental Zones In the longer term this dataset will be used to inform climate change models determine key roadside habitats that are beneficial to mammalian biodiversity and identify large scale distributional changes 2 0 INTRODUCTION The Bat Conservation Trust BCT initiated a partnership with the Mammals Trust UK MTUK to carry out a survey of nocturnal roadside mammals at selected areas throughout the UK The partnership approach helps meet a fundamental objective of the Tracking Mammals Partnership which is a collaborative initiative involving 24 UK organisations
10. When you have finished your route it is essential that you backup or save the data collected by the GPS To do this tap on Menu Overlay Backup Create Import NMEA Show All Hide alll px Delete All Settings Backup Name Choose a name for the backup which includes the date 6 figures ddmmyy and the Block Code e g 1205058 T8560 You can enter numbers and letters by tapping the relevant buttons To delete click on the black solid left pointing arrow at the top left hand corner of the keyboard If you cannot find the keyboard see Notes Folder Leave this as None Evento 4057 Type Leave this as Overlay object files mmo Name xke a Folder None Y H i Ll D H Location This must be set to Storage Card aaa Location El When you have finished click OK in the centre of the screen NB If you are worried that it might not have worked simply create another backup with another name but which includes the block code Alternatively you could try and save the Pl file with the same name as before If overwrite existing file pops up you know it has already been saved correctly and can therefore cancel the overwrite 13 Notes Troubleshooting Note If you do not get the keyboard at the bottom of the window you need to tap on the keyboard icon at the bottom right DN E TOR Before turning off the GPS PDA Once you are sure that you have c
11. o w 2 0 6 4 o o z 0 4 4 0 2 4 0 June July August September Month Figure 11 Mean number of common pipistrelle bat encounters per kilometre for each survey month 4 3 3 3 Soprano pipistrelle Pipistrelllus maeus Highest encounters were in May about twice as high as June and July and there was a large increase in August which decreased in September Figure 12 This shows a different pattern from the common pipistrelle bat 0 6 4 0 5 4 9 0 4 4 EI E El o o 0 3 4 w a 5 2024 0 1 4 0 r June July August September Month Figure 12 Mean number of soprano pipistrelle bat encounters per kilometre for each survey month 16 4 3 3 4 Nathusius pipistrelle Pipistrellus nathusii Too few data to carry out analysis 4 3 3 5 Myotis spp Highest encounters were in June and August with dips in activity outside these months Figure 13 This shows a different pattern from either the soprano pipistrelle or the common pipistrelle based on number of encounters 0 04 4 0 035 4 0 03 4 2 2 0 025 4 m o o E 0 024 w a 5 g 0 015 4 z 0 01 4 0 005 4 0 May June July August September Month Figure 13 Mean number of Myotis species bat encounters per kilometre for each survey month 4 3 3 6 Leisler s bat Nyctalus leisleri Highest encounters were in May and September with very low encounters in the remaining months Figure 14 However it must be noted that the data set i
12. pipistrelle Pnath You can of course have more than one bat present in a single snapshot This could be two individuals of the same species or two of different species Peak Frequency kHz 120 110 100 90 80 70 70 60 40 30 20 10 A B Rt D E F G H J 105 114 kHz 78 86 kHz 52 61 kHz 48 52 kHz 42 48 kHz 36 41 kHz 29 45 kHz 25 30 kHz 22 29 kHz 18 25 kHz most commonly encountered 12 Note that the following calls represent SINGLE call emitted by these species and DO NOT represent a sequence of calls emitted by the species 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz Lesser horseshoe Greater horseshoe B weer de prom m 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 ms Examples of lesser horseshoe A and greater horseshoe B echolocation calls Note that these are single calls spliced together into a single file 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz 50kH z D Soprano pipistrelle pipistralls common pipistrelle 100 kHz bes lu lil 250 300 350 400 450 500 ms Examples of soprano pipistrelle C 50kHz pipistrelle D and common pipistrelle E echolocation calls Note that these are single calls spliced together into a single file 13 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hannin
13. recorded during the 2 and 3 quarters is almost double that of the 1 and 4 quarters 1600 4 1400 4 1200 4 1000 4 800 600 400 200 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Time period Total No of bat encounters Figure 3 Total bat encounters per time period 4 3 2 2 Common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus There was an apparent difference in bat encounters between quarters with maximum bats encountered in the 2 and 3 quarters and minimum bats encountered in the 1 and 4 quarters Figure 4 The total number of bat encounters recorded during the 2 and 3 quarters is slightly more than double that of the 1 and 4 quarters 1000 4 900 4 800 700 4 600 4 500 4 400 300 200 100 4 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Time period Total no of bat encounters Figure 4 Total common pipistrelle bat encounters per time period 4 3 2 3 Soprano pipistrelle Pipistrellus maeus There was an apparent difference in bat encounters between quarters with maximum bats encountered in the 2 and 3 quarters and minimum bats encountered in the 1 and 4 quarters Figure 5 The total number of bat encounters recorded in the 2 and 3 quarters was slightly more than double than of the 1 and 4 quarters and this shows a similar pattern to the common pipistrelle bat 350 4 300 4 nN al o fi m o o fi 150 4 Total no of bat encounters 100 50 4 2nd 3rd 4th Time period Figure 5 Total
14. 31 05 2005 52 26 6 1 1 18 1 SY6075 Total 52 26 6 1 1 18 1 SY6090 15 07 2005 103 71 12 3 2 2 12 1 SY6090 Total 103 71 12 3 2 2 12 1 SY7590 14 07 2005 58 35 5 3 3 2 10 SY7590 Total 58 35 5 3 3 2 10 SY9090 10 06 2005 1 SY9090 Total 1 SZ0590 17 06 2005 1 SZ0590 Total 1 Dorset Total 516 340 53 35 7 68 3 Hampshire SU0505 29 05 2005 119 60 35 16 4 1 46 SU0505 Total 119 60 35 16 4 1 SU3505 28 08 2005 30 22 5 1 2 SU3505 Total 30 22 5 1 2 SU3520 30 06 2005 5 2 1 2 SU3520 Total 5 2 1 2 SU50058Z5090 08 06 2005 42 32 6 1 1 2 SU5005SZ5090 Total 42 32 6 1 1 2 SU5020 15 05 2005 76 46 14 2 3 4 1 SU5020 Total 76 46 14 2 3 4 1 SU5035 21 07 2005 98 68 7 22 2 SU5035 Total 98 68 7 22 2 SU6520 23 07 2005 130 68 2 51 1 7 1 SU6520 Total 130 68 2 51 1 7 1 SZ3590 07 08 2005 33 21 7 3 2 SZ3590 Total 33 21 7 3 2 Hampshire Total 533 319 77 98 5 19 7 IOW SZ3575 07 05 2005 81 61 3 1 12 3 08 06 2005 44 39 1 3 1 03 07 2005 113 102 2 1 7 13 08 2005 81 52 26 3 09 09 2005 89 76 2 8 1 1 SZ3575 Total 408 330 4 39 2 19 11 SZ5075 26 05 2005 22 18 1 2 1 22 06 2005 100 88 4 1 1 4 20 07 2005 154 138 1 3 4 3 4 31 08 2005 1 21 09 2005 1 SZ5075 Total 278 244 6 6 5 8 4 IOW Total 686 574 10 45 7 27 15 Kent TQ5535 26 09 2005 28 17 3 4 3 TQ5535 Total 28 17 3 4 3 47
15. 4 1 SZ0590 17 06 2006 6 7 Hampshire SUO505 29 05 2005 60 SU3505 28 08 2005 4 SU3520 SU2020 30 06 2005 0 SU5005 SZ5090 08 06 2005 5 2 SU5020 15 05 2005 10 2 SU6520 23 07 2005 6 SZ3590 07 08 2005 13 IOW SZ3575 07 05 2005 2 3 08 06 2005 1 4 03 07 2005 12 4 13 08 2005 3 09 09 2005 3 2 SZ5075 26 05 2005 7 22 06 2005 5 2 20 07 2005 80 31 08 2005 20 21 09 2005 70 Kent TQ5535 26 09 2005 0 TQ5550 13 06 2005 4 TQ7035 20 07 2005 10 2 TQ8550 30 06 2005 5 1 TRO0035 23 08 2005 4 TRO0050 04 08 2005 6 1 TR1550 19 07 2005 2 NorCered SN4055 26 05 2005 0 SN6080 15 09 2005 0 SN7070 21 07 2005 1 3 1 5 16 08 2005 1 1 1 3 1 Warks SO9055 29 09 2005 1 10 SP0570 30 07 2005 3 1 1 1 1 6 1 SP2055 14 08 2005 1 5 7 1 1 13 2 SP2070 25 05 2005 1 1 10 1 1 1140 SP2085 20 06 2005 1 2 2 2 1 5 3 SP3555 23 06 2005 1 1 1 1 An SP3570 02 05 2005 2 1 6 1 1 9 2 SP5070 17 07 2005 4 4 3 9 3 06 08 2005 7 an 15 129 9 6 i 5 50 7 7 334 Grand Total 6 lalese 38 1 8 0 10 lolo la 4 65 52 Table 5 Mean bat encounters per kilometre for each county and species allbats 45pip 55pip 50pip pnath myotis leis noct sero other Avon 0 041 0 000 0 000 0 000 0 000 0 021 0 000 0 000 0 000 0 021 Cardiff VoG 1 460 0 897 0 221 0 1
16. Kent North Ceredigion North Ceredigion North Ceredigion North Ceredigion Warwickshire Warwickshire Warwickshire Warwickshire Warwickshire Warwickshire Warwickshire Warwickshire Warwickshire SU6520 SZ3590 SU3505 SU3505 SU6535 SZ3575 SZ5075 SZ3575 SZ5075 SZ3575 SZ5075 SZ3575 SZ5075 SZ3575 SZ5075 TQ5550 TQ8550 TR1550 TQ7035 TROO50 TROO35 TQ5535 SN4055 SN7070 SN7070 SN6080 SN5585 SP3570 SP2070 SP2085 SP2355 SP5070 SP0570 SP5070 SP2055 SO9055 23 07 2005 07 08 2005 28 08 2005 25 09 2005 27 09 2005 07 05 2005 26 05 2005 08 06 2005 22 06 2005 03 07 2005 20 07 2005 13 08 2005 31 08 2005 09 09 2005 21 09 2005 13 06 2005 30 06 2005 19 07 2005 20 07 2005 04 08 2005 23 08 2005 26 09 2005 26 05 2005 21 07 2005 16 08 2005 15 09 2005 02 05 2005 25 05 2005 20 06 2005 23 06 2005 17 07 2005 30 07 2005 06 08 2005 14 08 2005 29 09 2005 lt lt lt K lt X Kxxx 44 lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt x Table 3 Number of bat species encountered for each survey block surveyed common soprano unidentified Nathusius Myotis Leisler s unidentified all bats pipistrelle pipistrelle pipistrelles pipistrelle spp bat noctule serotine bats Avon ST6080 30 07 2005 2 1 1 ST6080 Total 2 1 1 Avon Total 2 1 1 Cardiff SS8565 08 05 2005 7 1 6 Val
17. THE ANALYSIS Once you have finished the analysis send the BATS analysis sheet and the MAMMALS analysis sheet back to Jon Russ 31 Maudslay Road Chapelfields Coventry CV5 GEI Email j xuss Qabdn ac uk Tel 02476850202 Please keep the CD in a safe place as a backup copy for your bat group Appendix A BatSound Settings mA Spectrogram Ctri Shift4 5 1 Spectrogram If the file did not open as a sonogram ee is SEG select Analysis Spectrogram from the drop down Combined Inenu Power Spectrum Ctrl Shift P Pulse Interval Analysis Pulse Length Ana Pulse Characteristics Analysis gt Spectrogram Settings Default Sound format xj Oscillogram Settings Default Zero Crossing Analysis Settings Default Power Spectrum Settings Default Pulse Interval Pulse Length Analysis Settings Default m Bits per sample 4 C Shits 16 bits r Channels Carcel Mona Stereo 2 Sound Format Then select Sound Sound Format 10 from the drop down menu and change the Time expansion to 10 see left Click OK C 11025C 22050 44100 C Othe 44100 r Comments Contents re Recorded by EDS Date pe Time zz A m Samples per second Time expansion x Miliseconds per plot If stereo view ok 3 Spectrogram Settings Next set up 4000 E Left Channel r ancel the default Spectrogram settings by Min on mas fre
18. bell ringers E safety Your safety is the overwhelming priority One person should be assigned to drive and the other should carry out the recording navigation THE ASSIGNED DRIVER SHOULD ONLY DRIVE AND THEIR FULL ATTENTION SHOULD BE ON THE ROAD AT ALL TIMES Attach the flashing beacon to your car following the manufacturer s instructions In addition you should attach a large sign to the rear of your vehicle to inform people of what you are doing e g Wildlife Survey Make sure you have a full tank of petrol and inform the Police of your activities Take a mobile phone to summon help in case you get into difficulties Don t forget to wrap up warm it can get very cold with the car window open A CR When to survey 27 The surveys take place from May to September Only survey in good weather i e temp gt 7 C no rain light wind The group has been asked to survey a total of 10 different routes two in each of the months from May to September In addition one of the routes surveyed in July should be repeated in August E F Start time The survey should start 45 minutes after sunset Sunset times corrected for summer time have been provided 2 SETTING UP EQUIPMENT IN THE CAR b T Equipment Ensure that you have all the equipment including the survey sheets from the equipment list r DON T FORGET TO CHARGE THE PDA GPS BATTERY BEFORE USE poe si 7 Ir PS Fixing the PDA inside the car Fix the G
19. can then be used to 1 Inform the Planning System of the location of mammals including BAP species 2 Establish long term local regional monitoring of selected mammal species that complements existing mammal monitoring projects and informs local BAP s 3 Identify roadside designs that impact on mammal populations 4 Allow roadside managers to make informed decisions on how their activities impact on mammal populations This is the first project to survey for live and dead mammals along roads at night and use time expansion bat detectors with post survey sonogram analysis to identify bat species on a large scale This joint approach helps meet the aspirations of the Tracking Mammals Partnership through collaborative working between different mammal organisations The project was managed by the BCT and organised by a part time Project Manager who co ordinated the project All data were collected by volunteers who received training at 12 workshops The bulk of sonogram analysis was carried out by trained volunteers Time expansion bat detectors were attached to vehicles and volunteers drove at 15 mph for 2 hours at night on each survey transect Bat calls were recorded via the detector into mini disc recorders and recordings were analysed post survey through sonogram analysis All mammal sightings dead or alive were recorded Through use of a GPS all records could be geo referenced post survey Survey participants of all ages and survey experienc
20. develop a system to ensure such records are available to land managers This project has delivered over 5 000 new mammal records and once the dataset has been placed on the NBN it will be available to all 2 Develop a long term method for monitoring populations for selected species at the local and regional levels The encounter rate of common and soprano pipistrelles serotines noctules Leisler s Myotis spp foxes rabbits badgers hedgehogs appears sufficient for long term monitoring 3 Collect data systematically to enable future identification of road designs and roadside features that impact on mammal populations Through annual surveying it will be possible to identify locations where dead mammals occur regularly and this will prompt an investigation as to how the road design is contributing to these casualties Similarly identification of locations associated with high abundances of live mammals will help inform beneficial mammal road designs Recommendation A PhD student at University of East Anglia has expressed an interest in analysing mammal records using GIS Data should be made available to her for analysis 4 Inform road managers of the impact their roads have on roadside mammal populations Once analysis in 3 above has been completed results should be presented in a leaflet that is made available to Highways managers and road designers 34 6 0 10 11 RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendation the core met
21. encounters dead and alive was calculated for each month Figure 24 14 4 IB Fox dead ta E Fox alive 10 4 2 2 S 8 o o c o 67 o z 44 i a 0 T June July August September Month Figure 24 Overall monthly fox encounters Fox encounters peaked in June and then gradually decreased from July until reaching the lowest encounter rate during September Seasonal variation in the number of rabbit encounters The objective here was to test whether rabbit encounters varied with survey month The mean number of rabbit encounters dead and alive was calculated for each month Figure 25 18 4 E Rabbit dead 16 14 4 E Rabbit alive 2 12 o E a 104 o c o 84 S 2 e 4 4 2 E 0 June July August September Month 27 Figure 25 Overall monthly rabbit encounters The lowest number of rabbit encounters overall was in May with peak encounters occurring in June and July Encounter rates and Environmental Conditions All statistical tests between number of fox or rabbit encounters and climatic variables were not significant 4 5 Other observations As well as mammals twelve owls were observed along encounter routes and details of these are included in Table 7 in Appendix 3 4 6 Georeferenced Data Each mammal record was georeferenced Figure 24 a Re S UN 69258147203 N tr d oo mg a o Loi Figure 24 Distributio
22. soprano pipistrelle bat encounters per time period 12 4 3 2 4 Nathusius pipistrelle Pipistrellus nathusii There are currently too few data for any meaningful analyses 4 3 2 5 Myotis spp There was an apparent difference in bat encounters between quarters with encounter rate increasing steadily from the 1 to the 3 quarter and dropping off in the 4 quarter Figure 6 This shows a different pattern to both the common and soprano pipistrelle 254 Mi al o fi fi o L Total no of bat encounters 2nd 3rd 4th Time period Figure 6 Total Myotis spp bat encounters per time period 4 3 2 6 Leisler s bat Nyctalus leisleri There was a large difference in Leisler s bat encounters and quarter The 2 and 3 quarters showed the highest encounters Figure 7 The encounter rates in the 1 and 4 quarter were less than half the encounter rates recorded in the 2 and 3 quarters Total no of bat encounters al 2nd 3rd 4th Time period Figure 7 Total Leisler s bat encounters per time period 4 3 2 7 Noctule Nyctalus noctula There was a large difference in Noctule bat encounters and quarter Figure 8 Highest encounters were recorded in the 1 quarter and lowest in the 4 quarter 60 4 50 4 40 4 30 4 20 4 Total no of bat encounters 10 4 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Time period Figure 8 Total noctule bat encounters per time period 4 3 2 8 Serotine Eptesicus serotinus The 1
23. the route should not start under dense cover so that the GPS has a clear line with the satellites SURVEY CHECKPOINT On the 1 50 000 map identify an easily identifiable landscape feature that occurs somewhere along the first 5 miles of your route e g a T junction church start of bridge You will be asked to record information as you drive past this feature during the survey to ensure that the GPS data is synchronised with the minidisk time data Notes Troubleshooting gt Although it s possible to simply drive from a start point for 30 miles without planning we strongly recommend that you plan your route beforehand in order to aid navigation and maximise block coverage Familiarise yourself with the GPS PDA unit If you have received your GPS PDA from BCT it should be fully set up for use IP YOU RECEIVED IT FROM A SHOP IT NEEDS TO BE SENT TO BCT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE Important information is contained within the manual provided by the manufacturer and we recommend familiarising yourself with the following sections e Hardware feature Pages 1 4 e Connecting to AC Power and Charging battery Page 7 e Basic Skills Page 12 13 Inserting and removing a Memory Card The memory card contains all the map data and the GPS data from the survey routes you have completed When the GPS unit is off the memory card can be removed by slightly pushing in the top edge of the card to release it and then pulling it out of the sl
24. to enable future identification of road designs and roadside features that impact on mammal populations 4 Inform road managers of the impact their roads have on roadside mammal populations 3 0 METHODS 3 1 General Approach The general approach was for volunteers to drive along roads at night recording all mammals encountered The full survey protocol is presented in Appendix 1 3 2 Survey Areas and Road Transects Each county was divided into 15 km blocks 225 square km and surveyors were asked to identify a 50km road route within each block using 1 50 000 Ordnance Survey maps Surveyors were advised to identify only minor roads for safety reasons 3 3 Equipment A Tranquility time expansion detector attached to a mini disc recorder was fixed to the rear window of a vehicle with an adapted camera car window clamp The detector was set to slow down sound to convert from ultrasonic to audible by 10 times The sensitivity of the detector was set to maximum so that it recorded continuously and was not triggered by ultrasonic noise The sampling period was set to 320 milliseconds ms The detector listened for any ultrasonic noise for 320 ms then processed this noise for 3200 ms During the processing period the detector stopped listening for ultrasonic noise This approach meant that continuous snapshots of ultrasonic noise were taken every 3520 ms 320 3200 during the survey period A Personal Digital Assistant PDA
25. 0 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz 100 kHz Unknown interference 2 Social Call or Echolocation Call Bats produce high frequency social calls as well as echolocation calls Although social calls are highly variable we are using the following simple guide to identify social calls e Social calls usually consist of a series of downward sweeping frequency modulated components for example every 6 ms e The peak frequency of social calls tends to be under 30 kHz e Echolocation calls consist of a discrete component although they are produced in a sequence The most commonly encountered social call will be the pipistrelle social calls seen here 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz 100 kHz 300 350 ms Nathusius pipistrelle social calls and echolocation calls 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window NE JU m 200 kHz 100 kHz fu i pee na 0 50 150 200 350 400 ms Soprano and common pipistrelle social calls and two soprano pipistrelle echolocation calls Note These guidelines will only eliminate some of the social calls produced by bats However if you misidentify a social call as an echolocation call we will be able to detect this as it will usually end up being categorised as unknown in the key If you do come acros
26. 07 0 000 0 055 0 003 0 152 0 021 0 017 CentScot 1 917 0 244 1317 0 340 0 000 0 008 0 000 0 004 0 004 0 008 Clyde 0 802 0 145 0 510 0 140 0 000 0 000 0 013 0 000 0 000 0 000 Dorset 1 526 1 006 0 157 0 104 0 000 0 021 0 000 0 015 0 201 0 009 Hampshire 1 379 0 826 0 199 0 254 0 003 0 013 0 016 0 010 0 049 0 018 IOW 1 420 1 188 0 021 0 093 0 002 0 014 0 000 0 004 0 056 0 031 Kent 1364 0 890 0 186 0 207 0 006 0 021 0 006 0 024 0 006 0 012 NorCered 2 717 1 299 0 735 0 512 0 000 0 016 0 005 0 005 0 010 0 093 Warks 1 594 1 196 0 094 0 104 0 000 0 048 0 009 0 124 0 009 0 007 Grand Total 1 628 0 947 0 340 0 201 0 001 0 024 0 007 0 041 0 045 0 021 Table 6 Results of statistical test carried out on climatic variables Correlations were performed on temperature data coefficients presented and ANOVAs were carried out on Wind and Cloud variables NS not significant p lt 0 05 Temp Temp Wind Wind Cloud Cloud Start End Start End Start End all bats 0 261 NS NS NS NS NS common pipistrelle 0 428 0 366 NS NS NS NS soprano pipistrelle NS NS NS NS NS NS Myotis spp NS NS NS NS NS NS Leisler s bat NS NS NS NS NS NS noctule NS NS NS NS NS NS serotine NS NS NS NS NS NS Table 6 Owl encounters along transects Z tls 8 E 8 3 CentScot NS7075 26 07 2005 1 Clyde NS5545 22 08 2005 1 NS5560 25 07 2005 1 NS7060 27 07 2005 1 IOW SZ5075 22 06 2005 1 Kent TQ8550 30 06 2005 1 1 1 NorCered SN7070 16
27. 08 2005 1 Warks SP2055 14 08 2005 1 1 1 Grand Total 3 2 3 4 53 Table 7 Species occurring within each ITE land class covered during the survey ITE Land common soprano Myotis Leisler s Class pipistrelle pipistrelle species bat noctule serotine Total 1 469 76 17 3 43 31 639 2 526 80 20 7 11 57 701 3 421 28 6 1 1 19 476 4 211 18 3 0 10 8 250 5 103 40 3 1 25 3 175 6 42 11 5 0 4 0 62 7 19 5 0 0 0 4 28 8 128 13 0 0 0 2 143 9 119 5 2 0 12 0 138 10 86 1 2 1 5 0 95 11 74 3 3 0 3 0 83 12 3 3 0 0 0 0 6 13 16 12 0 0 0 0 28 14 137 73 2 1 0 1 214 15 4 6 0 0 0 0 10 18 30 13 0 0 0 0 43 19 67 35 1 0 0 1 104 20 8 4 0 0 0 0 12 26 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 28 4 10 0 0 0 0 14 29 1 53 0 0 0 0 54 30 4 10 1 0 0 0 15 31 0 13 0 0 0 0 13 32 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 33 40 130 0 0 0 0 170 34 41 234 1 4 0 1 281 35 14 40 0 1 0 0 55 36 9 15 0 0 0 0 24 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Table 8 Numbers of terrestrial mammal species encountered occurring in Environmental Zones Environmental Zone 1 2 3 4 5 6 badger 5 5 bank vole bat 24 35 10 deer 2 field vole 1 1 fox 27 10 1 8 3 hare 2 2 3 1 1 hedgehog 3 7 1 6 mink 1 1 mole 1 mouse 7 3 1 pole cat 1 rabbit 82 54 4 17 1 2 rat 6 1 roe deer shrew squirrel stoat unknown vole wood mouse N 55
28. 3 km generated on foot surveys Survey participants of all ages and survey experience made a positive contribution to mammalian conservation and also appreciated viewing live mammals in their natural environment In the longer term this dataset will be used to inform climate change models determine key roadside habitats that are beneficial to mammalian biodiversity and identify large scale distributional changes Bat activity Overall Species Comparisons 31 As in line with expectations common and soprano pipistrelle bats were by far the most frequent bat species encountered However significant numbers of noctules serotine and Myotis species were encountered In addition new records of Nathusius s pipistrelle and Leisler s bat which have never been surveyed systematically previously were obtained highlighting the true scarcity of these species Comparison of common and soprano pipistrelle distributions revealed that the common pipistrelle is more abundant in the UK than soprano pipistrelles However the soprano pipistrelle clearly predominates in Scotland compared with England and Wales Previous work by Vaughan et al 1997 showed the soprano to prefer wetland areas and we would predict from our results that Central Scotland and Clyde are wetter than England amp Wales Interestingly results from North Ceredigion one of the wetter parts of England and Wales shows a higher proportion of soprano to common pipistrelles than any of the other
29. 5 SY6075 SY9090 SZ0590 SY7590 SY6090 ST6005 ST7520 SY 4590 SY3090 SU5020 SU0505 SU5005 5Z5090 SU3520 5U2020 SU5035 Date 31 05 2005 20 06 2005 23 06 2005 30 07 2005 08 05 2005 08 06 2005 02 07 2005 25 07 2005 05 08 2005 09 08 2005 14 09 2005 07 05 2005 04 06 2005 25 06 2005 15 07 2005 26 07 2005 13 08 2005 20 05 2005 29 05 2005 21 06 2005 27 06 2005 25 07 2005 27 07 2005 22 08 2005 01 09 2005 31 05 2005 10 06 2005 17 06 2005 14 07 2005 15 07 2005 16 08 2005 18 08 2005 07 09 2005 14 09 2005 15 05 2005 29 05 2005 08 06 2005 30 06 2005 21 07 2005 Mammal Data lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt XX lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt KKK Sonogram Data lt lt lt lt KK lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt x lt lt lt lt lt lt lt 43 England England England England England England England England England England England England England England England England England England England England England England Wales Wales Wales Wales England England England England England England England England England Hampshire Hampshire Hampshire Hampshire Hampshire Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Kent Kent Kent Kent Kent Kent
30. Campbell Keith Cohen Susan Collie Ian Cornforth B Dawkins Ann Dennis Chris Dennis Caroline Drewitt Paul Elliot Pat Emslie Markku Farrell Carol Flux Jan Freeborn Stan Frey Iain Friend C Gic Batta Gwilym Griffith Linda Griffth John Haddow Brian Harrison Len Howcutt Rob Hunter Andrew Heath Rhian Hicks Clare Hughes Steve Jackson Laura Jones Alan Kelly 37 Andy Kendall S King Stephen Lowe Helen Lundie Colleen Mainstone Lee Manning Roger Maskill Zoe Masters John MacLean Eimear McEntee Sarah Mellor Helen Miller Garry Mortimer S Newton Sean Neill Laura Palmer Lisa Parker Fay Pascoe Jan Pascoe Lauren Pickering Steve Pickering Colin Pope Jill Pope John Puckett Catrina Rei Alison Riggs Carol Robertson John Robertson Martin Russell Hazel Ryan Paul Scott Peter Scrimshaw Rick Sharp Paul Sivell Richard Smith Debbie Stevens Melanie Stewart Val Sutton Angela Talbot Ellie Tapendon Neville Thompson Shirley Thompson Caroline Tomlinson Jackie Underhill Amanda Vivian Crowder Max Vivian Crowder Saramea Waterman Lizzie Wilberforce Sarah Williams Tina Wright 38 Appendix 1 Survey Protocol Bats and Roadside Mammals casi X SURVEY PROTOCOL Thank you for volunteering to take part in this exciting new project The Bats and Roadside Mammals Survey is a joint initiative between The Bat Conservation Trust and Mammals Trust UK PROJECT SUMMARY OBJECTIVE To carry out sy
31. England Wales survey areas Within night variation For all bat species grouped the second and third survey periods 75 to 135 mins post sunset coincided with peak bat encounters This pattern was certainly followed by common and soprano pipistrelle bats but the fact that other species showed different patterns e g noctules were most frequently encountered in the first quarter 45 75 mins and Myotis in the third quarter 105 135 mins demonstrates there is no optimum period for all species However as the last quarter 135 165 mins never coincided with a peak of activity of any species this is the time period that could be dropped if necessary Recommendation Keep start time at 45 mins post sunset and consider reducing survey time to 90 mins Seasonal variation For all bats there was a difference in encounter rate and month June showed the lowest encounter rate and July August the highest However inter species differences were observed Interestingly common and soprano pipistrelle bat encounters showed markedly different monthly encounters and the drivers behind these differences are not known at present This is the first time that this has been looked at on this scale and more research is required to identify drivers of these differences Annual surveys would help provide data on the influence of seasonal weather patterns on species monthly encounter rates Recommendation Keep surveying period as May September Baseline da
32. PS PDA unit to the windscreen following the diagram in the user manual Page 5 The unit should be fixed to the passenger side of the vehicle i e where the navigator sits Fit the Pocket PC to the bracket A Fit the bracket s small pocket Remove the paper on tne t Push in the locking tab to eo E P the bracket and supporter suction cup and attach the secure the suction cup e cuo to the windshield y head are magnetic so they can Mtt Stick together ON Bu m y ji A GC ai e oi ne Bend the supporter into a curve so that it contacts the dashboard of the car This assures stability of the car holder Don t forget to raise the GPS unit to the horizontal position as in the diagram Although the GPS PDA battery should last for the duration of each survey if you have one the unit should be plugged into the car cigarette light socket using the supplied lead Turn on the GPS PDA unit to receive a signal Ensure that you have a memory card inserted in the GPS PDA unit Load up the map containing the survey block you are about to survey see the supplied map of your area showing survey blocks IMPORTANT Remove data recorded by the GPS PDA from previous surveys by tapping on Menu Overlay Delete All This will remove them from the memory You should have a map with a red circle with a flashing red dot in the middle of it Notes Troubleshooting gt If the circle is white with no dot wa
33. THE BATS AND ROADSIDE MAMMALS SURVEY 2005 Final Report on First Year of Study submitted to The Bat Conservation Trust and the Mammals Trust UK En Bat Conservation Trust ps Mammals Trust UK Address of Authors Dr Jon Russ The Bat Conservation Trust 15 Cloisters House 8 Battersea Park Road London SW8 ABG Dr Colin Catto The Bat Conservation Trust 15 Cloisters House 8 Battersea Park Road London SW8 ABG Dr David Wembridge The Mammals Trust UK 15 Cloisters House 8 Battersea Park Road London SW8 4BG CONTENTS LPEXECUTIV E SUMMA e 4 DIN TE COTTON E A DAR VEA E endi RU S Ip 6 50 METHODS de Hense e eim co ea UR sii 6 S T Creneral Apptoac ete desesi tees E taut dms des ente e dat t tas 6 3 2 Survey Areas and Road Transeets ssi oae cor ode getto tsp pu ete alee nigella 6 GEET gi SHEI Sota 7 3 5 Recruiting local Bat Group Meet A idola resale sae 7 SA O O 7 a A E 8 3 8 Geo referencing Mammal Encounters eese nennen eene 8 3 9 Investing ni et saos ate oe D dre a pecu tl eas ea eats ene 8 9 T10 Vol inteer C Ont DUO soda DU iiid eau tte Mute iu a edge DANCE Las 8 3 11 Project Management cese ciao idad ida sedan 9 TU RESULD DS 9 2 Survey EE EEN 9 42 Description of Dataset Generated sees A sends Pe ehe asl edet i eda 9 a SEL MM RET eege 11 4 3 1 Bats encountered per kilometre eee terne eene tn socia debida cad eee ee ee EN nas 11 4 3 2 Within night variation in the number of bat e
34. acity building for the future Communication is an essential part of volunteer management The Project Co ordinator received over 600 e mails from volunteers during the project and spent over 20 hours talking to them on the phone This communication and support helps to ensure effective volunteer delivery 3 10 Volunteer Contribution Volunteer contribution to this project was immense and they contributed an estimated 91 days 51 days on surveying and 36 days on sonogram analysis This is equivalent to employing a part time position of 2 days per week similar to the contribution of the present Project Co ordinator and allowed the project to run cost effectively 3 11 Project Management There were 6 main areas of work in running the project 1 Designing the project 2 Training volunteers 3 Managing the survey 4 Analysis and report writing 5 Sonogram Analysis and 6 Implementing the survey Figure 1 Designing Project Implementing Survey Training Volunteers Sonogram Y Managing Survey Analysis and Report Writing Figure 1 Time management Blue volunteer contribution and green coordinator contribution Overall contribution to the project was divided almost equally between the volunteers and the paid Project Co ordinator All the sonogram analysis and survey implementation was carried out by volunteers and the investment of 8 of the Project Co ordinators time in training was an excellent use of resources More than this
35. all frequencies of soprano and common pipistrelles 4 4 Terrestrial Mammals A total of 399 mammals were encountered along transect routes Of these 65 were dead Details of all mammal encounters are presented in Table 4 in Appendix 3 There was a wide variety of mammals species groups encountered with the most abundant being rabbits bats and foxes followed by hedgehogs mice hares and badgers Table 2 More than five time as many live mammals were observed as dead ones Table 2 Total encounters and encounter rate for mammals observed along transect routes Mammals No Alive No Dead Alive per km Dead per km hedgehog 15 5 0 004313 0 001438 mole 0 1 0 0 000288 bat 68 0 0 019554 0 rabbit 129 38 0 037095 0 010927 hare 9 1 0 002588 0 000288 squirrel 0 8 0 0 0023 shrew 4 0 0 00115 0 field vole 2 0 0 000575 0 bank vole 1 0 0 000288 0 vole 2 0 0 000575 0 wood mouse 6 1 0 001725 0 000288 mouse 11 1 0 003163 0 000288 rat 5 1 0 001438 0 000288 fox 50 4 0 014378 0 00115 badger 9 1 0 002013 0 000288 mink 2 0 0 000575 0 stoat 1 0 0 000288 0 pole cat 1 0 0 000288 0 deer 2 0 0 000575 0 roe deer 4 0 0 00115 0 unknown 7 4 0 002013 0 00115 Grand 334 65 0 096043 0 018691 26 Total There was sufficient data to investigate seasonal variation in fox and rabbit encounters Seasonal variation in the number of fox encounters The objective here was to test whether fox encounters varied with survey month The mean number of fox
36. als 10 4 Peak Frequency In order to identify which species the bat call could belong to it is necessary to determine the peak frequency of the call To do this 5 Highlight the call in question and select Analysis Power Spectrum from the drop down menu Note If you cannot highlight anything try right clicking with the mouse and selecting Marking Cursor Peak Frequency 55 9 kHz 25 0 dB Which Species Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB 200 250 300 350 ms Marking gt Cursor 100 kHz 224 254 ms 1 Move the Marking Cursor so that it hovers over the highest peak i e the one closet to Odb on the left hand scale Then read off the Peak Frequency in the bottom left hand corner Note Make sure you look at the call only The highest peak for example may be at around 10 khz caused by mechanical noise From the sonogram you should be able to see the range of frequencies covered by the calls e g common pipistrelle sweeps down from about 65 kHz to 45 kHz Identify which categories A J the peak frequency falls into from the following diagram and or Table Then see which of the call shapes it most resembles from the sonogram For example if you obtain a peak frequency of 40 kHz this corresponds to the categories F and G 11 If you then look at the sonograms in F and G and decide that the shape resemble that of F then you have Nathusius
37. disk recorder A new dry cell battery should be installed before every survey Insert a new blank disc The recording mode should be set to MONO If the option is available the recording volume should be set to AUTOMATIC A small headtorch is essential for seeing the recorder but do not distract the driver whilst it is on You have been provided with an in car cassette adaptor If you wish to listen to the time expansion recordings and therefore bats while driving plug the cassette adaptor into the car cassette recorder and the into the headphone line out socket of the minidisk This will also enable you to assess whether the equipment is functioning correctly 3 STARTING THE SURVEY At this point all the equipment should be in place all maps and survey sheets are readily available the flashing beacon is on the roof and the driver is ready to go To start the survey 1 Turn on the PDA GPS open Memory Map and wait for a signal which should take a couple of minutes You can check you have a signal by tapping on Menu GPS Position If there is no signal the menu item Position will be greyed out and it will not be possible to tap on it 2 On the Recording Sheet fill in the surveyor s name specifying who the driver is date of survey and the Block Code Also record temperature cloud cover and wind speed but leave the start time blank An example recording sheet is included 3 Set the car trip meter to zero if you don t ha
38. e made a positive contribution to mammalian conservation and feedback from volunteers has been excellent Survey areas were selected by local Bat Groups 10 who expressed an interest in the project and were therefore generally located within the borders of a single county Actual transects were along the existing road network in each survey area The aim was to drive 10 separate transects of approximately 50 km length within each survey area Some transects were driven twice to provide baseline data for long term regional monitoring Bat Groups contributing data were Avon Cardiff amp the Vale of Glamorgan Central Scotland Clyde Dorset Hampshire Isle of Wight Kent North Ceredigion and Warwickshire Total volunteer effort was estimated at 91 days 55 days survey effort and 36 days of sonogram analysis A total of 3573 km of road were driven with 386 km repeat surveyed A total of 4719 bats were recorded from seven bat species species groups and a total of 399 other mammal species were recorded from 21 species groups Total numbers of bat species encountered were common pipistrelle 2744 soprano pipistrelle 985 noctule 119 Leisler s 19 serotine 129 Myotis spp 70 Nathusius pipistrelle 4 unidentified pipistrelles 582 unidentified bats 60 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 This has been the first systematic survey of Leisler s and Nathusius pipistrelle in the UK with bat detectors
39. e of SS8565 Total 7 1 6 Glamorgan SS8580 08 06 2005 63 41 14 1 7 SS8580 Total 63 41 14 1 7 ST0065 05 08 2005 46 24 13 2 5 1 14 09 2005 107 38 15 10 1 39 3 5 ST0065 Total 153 62 28 12 6 40 3 5 ST0080 09 08 2005 103 74 13 10 3 1 2 ST0080 Total 103 74 13 10 3 1 2 ST1580 02 07 2005 97 82 3 8 3 1 ST1580 Total 97 82 3 8 3 1 Cardiff Glamorgan Total 423 260 64 31 16 44 6 5 CentScot NS4075 13 08 2005 150 6 101 40 1 1 1 NS4075 Total 150 6 101 40 1 1 1 NS5590 07 05 2005 111 4 91 18 NS5590 Total 111 4 91 18 NS7075 26 07 2005 22 6 15 1 NS7075 Total 22 6 15 1 NS7090 04 06 2005 112 33 69 9 1 NS7090 Total 112 33 69 9 1 NS8590 25 06 2005 68 10 42 14 1 1 NS8590 Total 68 10 42 14 1 1 CentScot Total 463 59 318 82 2 1 1 2 Clyde NS2545 21 06 2005 12 d 8 3 45 NS2545 Total 12 1 8 3 NS2560 21 05 2005 65 2 56 7 NS2560 Total 65 2 56 7 NS4045 01 09 2005 43 4 27 9 NS4045 Total 43 4 27 9 NS4060 29 05 2005 19 3 12 4 NS4060 Total 19 3 12 4 NS5545 27 06 2005 12 1 8 3 22 08 2005 88 27 40 21 NS5545 Total 100 28 48 24 NS5560 25 07 2005 62 16 40 6 NS5560 Total 62 16 40 6 NS7060 27 07 2005 9 2 6 1 NS7060 Total 9 2 6 1 Clyde Total 310 56 197 54 Dorset ST6005 16 08 2005 192 134 23 18 1 11 1 ST6005 Total 192 134 23 18 1 11 1 ST7520 18 08 2005 109 74 7 11 17 ST7520 Total 109 74 7 11 17 SY6075
40. e you are just tap on the screen for your present location Recording information during the survey e SURVEY CHECKPOINT At the survey checkpoint you identified when planning your route take a note of the time using your watch the elapsed time on the minidisk recorder and a description of your checkpoint feature e g T junction by Post Office and record the information on the Recording Sheet This will help us relate the minidisk recordings to the GPS data after the survey e Record the exact time the route started and ended e Record the trip mileage for the start and end of the route e Record wild mammals encountered during the route e g foxes rabbits hares deer hedgehogs badgers etc However please do not stop the car to identify mammals Mammals that are observed dead should be written in brackets e g a live mammal deer a dead mammal deer Also record any other interesting observations All observations should include the time at which they occurred and the distance from the start as determined by reading the trip meter e Take a note of problems that have occurred such as minidisk skipping flat batteries etc 12 5 FINISHING THE SURVEY At the end of the survey write your name survey date and Block Code on the minidisk and fill in the details on the Survey and Monitoring Block Details Sheet which contains information for all of the groups surveys TK saving the data at the end of your route
41. elines about certain risks to health and safety associated with your work of which it is aware But the BCT and MTUK are small charities with limited resources Consequently it is not able to provide you with information about all risks to health and safety or training on health and safety nor is it in a position to supervise your work or to instruct you how to do it As general advice BCT strongly advises you not to undertake any activity if you have any concerns about risks to your own or others health and safety and at all times to take the utmost care of your own and others health and safety If you become aware of any particular risks associated with the work you do we would be grateful to be informed of these b Wer QUIPMENT LIST SURVEY amp MONITORING BLOCK DETAILS sheet to record block information e g date block name RECORDING SHEET to record details during each survey e g weather survey events mammals encountered etc List of SUNSET TIMES Map of your area showing SURVEY BLOCKS A minidisk recorder GPS PDA unit with car connecting kit and 2 memory cards 2 blank mini discs Directional window clamp to hold the bat detector Tranquility or Pettersson D240x Time Expansion bat detector Minidisk bat detector connecting lead Maps 1 50 000 OS maps to plan your route Spare batteries Clip board Torch a head torch leaves hands free to write Pencils Flashing orange beacon T
42. g data is not affected In the present survey the time expansion detector was set to sample ultrasound for 320 ms before slowing the captured sound This approach worked well for pipistrelle and Myotis spp as they have distinctive echolocation calls that can be identified with confidence from a single call The larger bats serotines noctules and Leisler s have less distinctive calls and identification is easier when a sequence of calls is recorded However as the larger bats have slow repetition rates usually only 1 or 2 calls were recorded and this made identification more difficult Using a sample period of 1 200 ms on the detector would result in more calls from the same bat being recorded and facilitate easier identification of large bats Recommendation Consider using a sample period of 1 200ms on future surveys Dataset generated This is a novel cost effective project that has delivered a substantial quality assured mammal roadside dataset in a single summer season with trained volunteer surveyors Specifically it has delivered 4 719 new bat records and 399 terrestrial mammal records all geo referenced to 20 200 metres This project surveyed for live and dead mammals along roads at night and used time expansion bat detectors with post survey sonogram analysis to identify bat species on a large scale The approach of surveying from vehicles allowed 50 km of road to be surveyed on each survey night and this compares favourable with
43. g window 200 kHz Nathusius pipistrelle Barbastelle 100 kHz gt d VAN Vay 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 ms Examples of Nathusius pipistrelle echolocation calls F and Barbastelle echolocation calls G Note that these are single calls spliced together into a single file 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz Serotine H 100 kHz 2 lia 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 ms Examples of serotine echolocation calls As calls become more CF and flattened to the right of the diagram the more likely it is that the identification is correct if the peak frequency is around 26 kHz Note that these are single calls spliced together into a single file 14 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz Leisler s 100 kHz EN LA D 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 ms Examples of Leisler s bat echolocation calls As calls become more CF and flattened to the right of the diagram the more likely it is that the identification is correct if the peak frequency is around 23 kHz Note that these are single calls spliced together into a single file 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz Noctule J 100 kHz 1 bom 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500 ms Examples of noctule echolocation calls As ca
44. gram on the right mea Ta pda Min freg __ Max freq Iv ME 6 0 120000 Appendix B Steps to identification and echolocation key Note The example sonograms presented in these steps are the same scale as a single expanded snapshot The sound files of these sonograms as well as other examples are included on the training CD Follow the following 5 steps to assess and identify your potential bat call 1 2 3 4 5 3 Social Call FM Bat Bat ert P d ESL Echolocation Call Sound Se Peak 3 Which e SCH Other call ___y Frequency Species Noise 1 Bat or Noise As we are using bat detectors attached to moving cars there will often be a lot of background noise e g wind mechanical from car etc Use the following guidelines and sonograms to help you identify noise e The best way to distinguish noise from bat calls is to play the sound A bat call will be relatively tonal and when played back will sound like a whistle Noise is highly variable harsh very short duration very long duration repetitive hiss crackle whining etc e Generally a bat call will be longer than 2 5 ms and shorter than 70 ms e Generally bat calls are produced in a sequence Note however that low frequency bat calls 25 kHz may only show up singly Browse through the sonogram of various noise types and bat calls within this step 1 and also within step 8 to familiarise yourself with the various forms Note T
45. he geo referencing program developed by Martin Newman the IT consultant for BCT Each record could then be assigned a Grid Reference accurate to 20 200 m 3 9 Investing in Volunteers Due to the necessary complexity of the project it was essential that volunteers were provided with training Two types of training workshops for volunteers were run 1 Training in the survey method 2 Training in sonogram analysis e Training in the survey method Seven workshops were held in Wales Scotland and England and volunteers were trained in all aspects of the survey method This included a practical demonstration of using the equipment A total of 64 volunteers were provided with training e Training in sonogram analysis Five workshops were held in Wales Scotland and England and volunteers trained in analysing sonograms on BatSound software A standard training package was developed to ensure consistency of training which was given to each volunteer A total of 46 volunteers were trained in sonogram analysis These training workshops were critical to the success of the project Firstly they provided an opportunity to explain in detail the project to the volunteers and secondly training ensured the protocol was implemented properly Volunteers attending workshops found it an enjoyable experience and appreciated the efforts made The long term objective is for trained volunteers to train new recruits in subsequent years and thus allow strong cap
46. he visible track time of the sonograms in this guide are the same as a single expanded snapshot 350 ms Examples of Bat Calls 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz 200 kHz 100 kHz 100 kHz SSS giu oh sti Aad 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 ms 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 ms Soprano pipistrelle echolocation calls one individual Soprano and common pipistrelle echolocation calls and social call One individual of each species 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window wa 200 kHz 100 kHz 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 ms Noctule echolocation call one individual 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window E N 200 kHz 100 kHz 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 ms Myotis echolocation call one individual see the training CD for further examples Examples of Noise 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz 100 kHz 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window E T mm 200 kHz 3 Li 100kHz E se P SE SE i 0 100 150 250 300 350 ms see the training CD for further examples Common pipistrelle echolocation call one individual 9
47. hermometer It might be useful to bring the number of a local wildlife rescue centre in case you come across any injured animals 1 PLANNING AND PREPARING FOR THE SURVEY Survey Blocks You have been given a map of your local area which has been divided into 15km blocks The code within each block refers to the grid reference of the south westerly corner and this code will be used to identify each survey block ST9065 r Wrimetable e Each group will be asked to survey ten different blocks two in each of the months of May June July August and September Ga e In addition to surveying the ten survey blocks the group will be asked to select one of the blocks surveyed in July to repeat in August Survey Blocks May Y Y Repeat Jme v v 4 August v v v September v v Total 11 surveys SS S S S S Planning your route Once you have chosen your survey block using a 1 50 000 map you should plan a 30 mile long route that covers as much of the block as possible On a 1 50 000 map e g OS Landranger 30 miles is represented by a piece of string cut to 95 cm or 37 5 inches Try and keep your transect inside the block as much as possible but don t worry if you have to travel into the adjacent block occasionally Try to avoid transects on major roads as you will be driving quite slowly The route should minimise backtracking unless unavoidable We recommend that
48. hodology should be used in future but where technological advances in equipment or software could improve the method they should be used In such instances care should be taken to ensure monitoring data is not affected Recommendation Consider using a sample period of 1 200ms on future surveys Recommendation Keep start time at 45 mins post sunset and consider reducing survey time to 90 mins Recommendation Keep surveying period as May September Recommendation Ensure monitoring transects are surveyed twice annually in July August Recommendation The Isle of Wight should continue to take part in the project Recommendation Keep checking pipistrelle peak frequencies in other parts of the UK Recommendation Continue to record mammals produce more mammal conservation material to the volunteers and increase the number and distribution of survey areas Recommendation Continue to record owl and cat encounters along routes Recommendation We recommend continuing to use the GPS PDA system on future surveys Recommendation A PhD student at University of East Anglia as expressed an interest in analysing mammal records using GIS Data should be made available to her for analysis 35 7 0 REFERENCES Catto C Russ J amp Langton S 2004 Development of a car survey monitoring protocol for the Republic of Ireland The Heritage Service Dublin Jones G amp van Parijs S M 1993 Biomodal echolocation in pipistrelle bats are cryptic
49. ils sent 40 5 Telephone 40 5 41 calls Georeferencing of data 30 4 Data archiving 30 4 Data analysis 30 4 Report writing 38 5 Sub Total 913 122 TOTAL 1596 213 1 9 7 5 hours per day The Project Co ordinator made a voluntary contribution of 29 days 42 Table 2 Details of all survey routes Y completed successfully e g no failed discs non returns etc Area England England England England Wales Wales Wales Wales Wales Wales Wales Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland England England England England England England England England England England England England England England Location Avon Avon Avon Avon Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan Central Scotland Central Scotland Central Scotland Central Scotland Central Scotland Central Scotland Clyde Clyde Clyde Clyde Clyde Clyde Clyde Clyde Dorset Dorset Dorset Dorset Dorset Dorset Dorset Dorset Dorset Hampshire Hampshire Hampshire Hampshire Hampshire Block ST6065 ST7565 ST6050 ST6080 SS8565 SS8580 ST1580 ST0065 ST0065 ST0080 ST0065 NS5590 NS7090 NS8590 NN5505 NS7075 NS4075 NS2560 NS4060 NS2545 NS5545 NS5560 NS7060 NS5545 NS404
50. ise detection of bats and minimise wind interference outside gt cu inside Tranquility Transect The microphone is located on the top of the machine Therefore a window clamp with a right angled bracket is required see diagram Attacht eh detector to the back of the bracket with elastic bands and Velcro so that the microphone is positioned just above the top of the bracket and pointing outwards over the top of the tripod diagram The bracket should be attached firmly to either the front or rear passenger side window i e the one nearest the kerb The rear passenger window may be preferred to stop the navigator recorder getting too cold To set the correct detector angle 10 cm inside the car pointing upwards and angled towards the rear of the car touch the metal adjustment handle to the inside right hand side of the mounting bracket then lift it up by lcm see diagram at B This should maximise detection of bats and minimise wind interference E Setting up the detector Attach the lead from the TAPE or REC socket of the detector to the LINE IN socket of the recorder Install a fresh set of batteries into the detector Turn the detector on and set the time expansion function to 320ms Turn the SENS knob fully clockwise at this setting the time expansion will be triggering constantly If the detector has a time expansion option i e x10 x32 this should be set to x10 10 setting up the mini
51. it for the GPS to detect satellites gt If you have no circle at all try clicking the padlock button at the bottom of the screen to centralise the map around your location If the problem persists check the GPS is set up correctly by selecting Menu GPS Setup and ensuring that COM2 Serial Cable on SP2 is visible in the Port box and NMEA is visible in the Manufacturer box Tra Memory Map OS Ed c 9 56 x F Memory Map OS El qe d 13 18 lok SAI SELES SCSI Status No Signal 4 Manufacturer NMEA y NMEA 0183 RMC y Port COM2 Serial Cable on SP2 e Baud 4800 vi 9 FED Disable auto power off Debug Import Export Ej Overlay Map E Positioning the bat detector Attach the detector firmly to the car bracket using the provided Velcro strips and two strong elastic bands Tranquility II The front microphone end of the detector should be up against the join in the brown seating plate see diagram A and the bracket should be attached firmly to either the front or rear passenger side window i e the one nearest the kerb The rear passenger window may be preferred to stop the navigator recorder getting too cold To set the correct detector angle 10 cm inside the car pointing upwards and angled towards the rear of the car touch the metal adjustment handle to the inside right hand side of the mounting bracket then lift it up by 1cm see diagram at B This should maxim
52. its and foxes follow the seasonal pattern predicted from MacDonald and Barrett s 1993 studies as it suggests that encounter rates on the car survey are reflecting actual population changes Other interesting observations There were significant numbers of owl species recorded along routes In addition some Bat Groups recorded domestic cats It would be useful to collect records of these nocturnal predators Recommendation Continue to record owl and cat encounters along routes 33 Georeferenced Data The use of the GPS PDA system allowed accurate geo referencing of mammal records and this made a significant improvement on previous car based surveys The fact that volunteers could see the route they followed being plotted out on the PDA s 1 50 000 digital map made nocturnal navigation much easier and was welcomed by the volunteers The advantage of having records geo referenced is that the effect of land use on encounter rates can be assessed e g the influence of Land Classes Environmental Zones on encounter rates With more time it will be possible to identify the effect of roadside habitats on mammal encounter rates and this will help provide understanding of how roadside habitats influence mammal populations Recommendation We recommend continuing to use the GPS PDA system on future surveys Conclusions 1 Considerably increase the present number of bat mammal records through implementing a cost effective mammal survey method and
53. l tests between number of Leisler s bat encounters and climatic variables were not significant 4 3 4 7 Noctule Nyctalus noctula All statistical tests between number of Noctule bat encounters and climatic variables were not significant 4 3 4 8 Serotine Eptesicus serotinus All statistical tests between number of serotine bat encounters and climatic variables were not significant Thus there were significant relationships between temperature and the number of bat encounters recorded for pipistrelle bats and all bats grouped together but there were no significant relationships for any of the other species studied 4 3 5 Baseline data on long term monitoring transects The objective was to provide baseline data upon which long term monitoring of roadside bat populations can be built For these transects volunteers were asked to repeat in August one of the transects that they carried out in July ensuring that they drove exactly the same route 4 3 5 1 All bat species Of the 5 transects that were repeat surveyed the mean number of total encounters were similar Figure 17 20 80 4 70 60 4 50 4 40 4 30 4 20 4 10 m 1st Monitoring transect 2nd Monitoring transect Mean number of bat encounters Figure 17 Mean number of bats encounters for 1 and 207 monitoring transects Total number of survey block repeated 5 4 3 5 2 Common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus Of the 5 transects that were repeat su
54. le in England Wales and the Westerly lowlands lowland pastural in England Wales with the exception of the soprano pipistrelle which had the highest proportion of encounters in the Lowlands in Scotland 10096 4 90 m 80 70 4 E Highlands E Intermediate amp Islands 60 Lowlands 50 Uplands El Westerly lowlands amer E Easterly lowlands 30 4 20 10 0 T T T 1 common soprano Myotis spp Leisler s bat Noctule Serotine pipistrelle pipistrelle Species species group Figure 25 Proportions of encounters of each species species groups occurring in each Environmental Zone Proportion of common and soprano pipistrelles occurring within each Environmental Zone Generally there was a decrease in the proportion of common pipistrelle encounters and an increase in soprano pipistrelle records across Environmental Zones with a greater proportion of common pipistrelles occurring in the Easterly lowlands lowland arable in England Wales and a greater proportion of soprano pipistrelles occurring in the Highlands Figure 26 29 N 1491 N 1241 N 157 N 500 N 38 N 84 100 4 90 80 70 4 60 4 Bil soprano pipistrelle 50 4 El common pipistrelle 40 30 20 10 0 T Easterly Westerly Uplands Lowlands Intermediate Highlands lowlands lowlands amp Islands Environmental Zone Figure 26 Proportions of common and soprano
55. lls become more CF and flattened to the right of the diagram the more likely it is that the identification is correct if the peak frequency is around 19 kHz Note that these are single calls spliced together into a single file 15 APPENDIX 3 Table 1 Survey effort VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTION Hours Days Car Survey No of volunteers participating in surveys 58 No of surveys completed 72 Volunteer time for one survey 4 hrs Volunteer effort 360 48 4 Workshops Dorset Hampshire Isle of Wight Kent 30 4 IT support 23 3 Sonogram Analysis No of sonogram analysers 15 No of Cds analysed 62 Time to analyse sonogram data 4 hrs Volunteer effort 248 33 3 Workshops Dorset Hampshire Isle of Wight 23 3 Sub Total 683 91 COORDINATOR CONTRIBUTION Car Survey 3 Workshops Warwickshire Cardiff Strathclyde 23 3 Preparation of standard talk for training days 15 2 Meetings with BCT MTUK 23 3 Writing and testing standard protocol 135 18 Preparing resource material 15 2 Equipment ordering construction processing 53 7 Processing data inc spreadsheet construction 30 4 Sonogram Analysis Time to process minidisc CD 3 hrs No of Cds to processed inc failed surveys 70 Processing CDs 210 28 2 workshops Warwickshire Stirling 15 2 Preparation of standard talk for training days 23 3 Writing and testing standard protocol 60 8 Processing data 30 4 0 Other 0 Emails replied to received 638 replied to 300 75 10 Ema
56. mals along survey routes the large variety of other mammal species encountered demonstrate how useful the survey technique is for investigating large scale mammalian diversity The majority of the mammal species encountered 8196 were alive which is in contrast to other road surveys which only count dead mammals This provides an ideal opportunity for volunteers to observe live mammals in the wild Data from this survey should complement data derived from the MTUK s diurnal Mammal Roadside Survey and one analysis of their results have been completed we recommend comparing encounter rates and seasonal patterns of encounters between the two surveys Seasonal Variation in fox and rabbit encounters For rabbits mating occurs throughout the year although the majority of litters are born between February and August with peak pregnancies during April and June MacDonald amp Barrett 1993 Population numbers have been shown to increase from March April towards a peak in September October MacDonald amp Barrett 1993 It is probable that our observation that rabbit numbers peaked in June and July reflect the increase in summer births The majority of fox births occur in the March to May period MacDonald amp Barrett 1993 and therefore the observed peak in June in fox encounters are likely to reflect the increase in population numbers as a result the additional individuals to the population It is reassuring that the maximum encounter rates of rabb
57. n of Bats amp Roadside Mammals Survey 2005 mammal records with enlarged view of Warwickshire ITE Land Classes ITE Land Classes were identified for each species record A summary of bat records and ITE land classes is presented in Table 8 in Appendix 3 There was insufficient data for analysis to be carried out for each ITE land class Environmental Zones The ITE land classes can be combined to form Environmental Zones 1 Lowland arable in England Wales Easterly lowlands 2 Lowland pastural in England Wales Westerly lowlands 3 Uplands in England Wales 28 4 Lowlands in Scotland 5 Marginal uplands in Scotland Intermediate amp Islands 6 True uplands in Scotland Highlands There was insufficient data to carry out analysis for each individual mammal species other than bats based on Environmental Zones However a summary of Environmental Zones and mammal species is presented in Appendix 3 Table 9 Although it was not possible to classify the entire routes travelled according to Environmental Zone we were able to make comparisons between the proportions of encounters of bat species occurring within each Environmental Zone Proportion of each bat species encounters occurring in Environmental Zones The proportion of occurrences of each bat species varied between Environmental Zones Figure 25 For each species the greatest proportion of encounters occurred in the Easterly lowlands lowland arab
58. ncounters eene 11 4 3 3 Seasonal variation in the number of bat encounters seen 15 4 3 4 Encounter rates and Environmental Conditions sese 19 4 3 5 Baseline data on long term monitoring tranSecCtS ooooocnnnccnnncccnoncccnnncnonnnnnnonnnnccnnnccnnnnos 20 430 Comparisomob Bal Species ee sete net E dias 23 dA Terrestrial Mammals oec o Eno echte Do pm tion 26 ES Other DDServatl Dno de enel ne mtd sat reto i tetuer 28 4 6 Georeferenced Data ai eet i etie one a nea UR da eee 28 IS CU ION tbt ie eR eme Et EE 31 OU RECONIMENDA TON Sn A da 35 70 REFERENCES cuidas 36 RE TE ME EREECHEN 37 APPENDIX T S ryey Protocol cese estu cor PONE E E dote as EEE aes 39 APPENDIX 2 Sonogram Analysis Protocol esee enne nennen enne 53 ddl DID dec e EET 68 1 0 10 11 12 13 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This is the first report of the BCT MTUK Bats and Roadside Mammals Project covering the survey year 2005 The primary aim of this report is to provide survey data for a range of mammals associated with roadside habitats The Bats and Roadside Project is a partnership project of the Bat Conservation Trust BCT and the Mammals Trust UK MTUK with funding provided by MTUK The fundamental aim of the project is to increase significantly the number of records of mammals along roads and for records collected to be made available to all via the NBN These records
59. ot Ss E 2 Memory card To insert a memory card simply push it fully into the slot until it clicks in place Notes Troubleshooting When using the PDA GPS pull up the GPS receiver into the horizontal position E Familiarise yourself with the Memory Map software 1 2 Opening the Memory Map software e 12 43 EY AEJ File Explorer r 3 Microsoft Mp3Player MSN Reader Messenger o x wv Pocket Excel Pocket MSN o m E Pocket Nav Pocket Terminal OS 2004 Word Services Client Loading a Map L ENT 9 53 ok E Search Z Greater London 132M From OS 1 50k Region 2 13M From OS 1 50k Region 4 5 28M From OS 1 50k Region 4 1 82M From OS 1 50k Region 2 16 7M From OS 1 250k GB Road Atlas 13 3M Tap on the Menu button C and then on the item called Map and a new box pops up This lists all the maps within your area Each map covers a single 15km block Tap on one of the listed maps and click ok top right corner If the map that loads is not the one Open the Memory Map OS program by tapping on Start at the top left of the screen and the tapping on Programs The adjacent screen should pop up To select the required program tap on Pocket Nav OS 2004 Notes Troubleshooting gt If the Pocket Nav OS 2004 icon is not visible it might be necessary to scroll down by tapping on the bar at the right hand side of the screen
60. oup an average of 18 volunteers contributed to the project Participating groups were Avon Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan Central Scotland Clyde Dorset Hampshire Isle of Wight Kent North Ceredigion and Warwickshire 3 6 Data Handling Once a survey had been completed surveyors send mini discs and GPS files to the Project Co ordinator The co ordinator transferred the mini disc recordings into a dedicated computer and converted them into digital wav files These files were then burnt onto a CD and sent to a trained volunteer for subsequent sonogram analysis This approach meant that all recordings were centralised before analysis and provided backup for the data The data from survey forms containing bat and terrestrial mammal data were entered into an Excel spreadsheet and time data were converted to a suitable format for analysis 3 7 Sonogram Analysis Sonogram analysers analysed each CD and recorded bat species and the time at which each species was encountered In cases where species identity could not be ascertained with confidence these were flagged up for further investigation by the Project Coordinator The protocol for sonogram analysis is presented in Appendix 2 3 8 Geo referencing Mammal Encounters Once the sonogram analysis was completed the results were entered into an Excel spreadsheet and converted to a suitable analysis format by the Project Coordinator Bat and mammal encounter times were then run through t
61. our figure of 4000ms In this case it is 3000ms The grid reference SP 37040 74814 altitude 129 and distance 506 in this row should then be copied into the relevant row on your BATS analysis sheet Ei Microsoft Excel 0205055P3570 xls File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Help Adobe PDF DSA RBBIGRIF Hs aB 018 4 4 io e a a 3 A y AY A a 0 Reply with Changes End Revie Arial 10 B 12 3 9 gt 342 FEA R1 M A Track Time ms from Number st k 5000 15000 233000 25000 75580 M35 48 25 233000 36676 243000 36710 75602 1245 109 243 36759 253 36812 263 36863 36921 36978 293 37040 37105 75809 1284 570 313 37175 75796 1266 642 323 H 5 GRID REFERENCES FOR MAMMALS To identify the correct grid references altitude and distance for the mammals refer to the Mammals Analysis Sheet which should contain a list of mammals with the time from the start at which they were observed If you have no mammals on your sheet it means that there were no mammals recorded during the survey and you can skip this step This time we will be using the Time from start in the blue column a Scroll down through the spreadsheet and find the Time from start that nearest matches that Time s written on the MAMMALS analysis sheet b Copy the grid reference altitude and distance data from the same row as the Time s into the MAMMALS analysis sheet 6 FINISHING
62. pipistrelles occurring within Environmental Zones Proportion of Myotis spp serotines noctules and Leisler s bats occurring in Environmental Zones Although Myotis spp noctules and Leisler s bats were encountered within all Environmental Zones with the exception of the Intermediate amp Islands marginal uplands of Scotland by far the most records were encountered in the Easterly lowlands lowland arable in England Wales and the westerly lowlands lowland pastural in England Wales and therefore these are most suitable for comparison The proportion of Myotis spp and Leisler s bat were similar between the Easterly lowlands and the Westerly lowlands Figure 27 However for serotines and noctules there was a greater proportion of serotines in the Easterly lowlands and a greater proportion of noctules in the Westerly lowlands N 163 N 153 N 2 N 6 N 0 N 1 100 90 80 O Myotis 70 D Serotine Bl Noctule 60 El Leisler s bat 50 40 30 20 10 4 0 Easterly Westerly Uplands Lowlands Intermediate Highlands lowlands lowlands amp Islands Environmental Zone Figure 27 Proportion of Myotis spp Serotines noctules and Leisler s bats occurring within Environmental Zones 30 5 0 DISCUSSION Method The first published paper on heterodyne car based surveying was published in 1987 Judes 1987 Subsequent heterodyne car based surveys have been carried ou
63. quen EE nom Cornel selecting Analysis Spectrogram B Dire stats Apply Settings default from the drop down ARIES n 3 higa Fontsze User Colors 512 samples menu Change the settings so that they Ki D B FFT window Amplitude color mappin appear exactly as in the diagram on jz Show amplitude iu Hanning y Rea Green amp Blue y color bar the right Make sure the FFT 512 FFT Overlap See However you can ignore or change A WE z Bu lw 0 hih Low level B amp C to anything you like B changes d SIN ene nid lines per axis d the threshold level i e the amount of Frequency resolution Time between FFTs Frequency Time background noise that you can see mn None Y None y You need to ensure that the separate snapshots are visible Eso dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB So dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window er LOW THRESHOLD LEVEL nue HIGH THRESHOLD LEVEL AIR AAA rd 10 kHz r2 ALA Mei s d i E Ee SE id 10 kHz ail 1 muc ee aan e LN Ser H 4 500 10 1 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000ms C allows you to select your preferred colour scheme the Red Green amp Blue setting is good Click Apply then OK EE FET si 512 pes 4 Power Spectrum Settings Select Analysis Power Spectrum FET window Settings default from the drop down menu Change the settings so Harring si Ier that they appear exactly as they do in the dia
64. r rates Bat species were encountered in different abundances during the survey Fig 20 3000 4 2500 2000 o o E 3 o 9 1500 4 o s e 1000 4 I common Soprano unidentified Nathusius Myotis spp Leisler s bat noctule serotine unidentified pipistrelle pipistrelle pipistrelles pipistrelle bats Species Species groups Figure 20 Total number of bats and bat groups encountered overall The common pipistrelle had the highest encounter rate 2744 which was more than double that of the next highest encounter rate the soprano pipistrelle 985 The next highest group were the unidentified pipistrelles 582 where peak frequencies of pipistrelle bats recognised as pipistrelle bats from the shape of their call were intermediate between common and soprano pipistrelles they were classified as unidentified common soprano pipistrelles Serotine and noctule encounters were similar 129 and 119 respectively followed by Myotis species 70 The five species comprising the Myotis species category all produce similar calls and it was not possible to assign individual calls to species with confidence There were 19 encounters of Leisler s bat and with 4 encounters Nathusius pipistrelle was the rarest bat identified Sixty bats could not be assigned to species species group with confidence and were assigned to the other category 4 3 6 2 Comparison of common and soprano pipistrelle encounters Common and
65. reated a backup of your route tap on Menu Delete All to remove all your work Your red route should disappear from the map DON T FORGET TO CHARGE YOUR GPS PDA UNIT BEFORE REUSE See Manual Page 7 Connect unit to mains using supplied cable There is no need to plug the USB cable into the computer 6 AFTER THE SURVEY Ensure that the GPS PDA unit is turned off and remove the memory card Please send the memory card the Recording Sheet from your survey and the minidisk to Jon Russ address below Please pass all equipment information sheets and the Survey and Monitoring Block Details Sheet to the next surveyor If sending all equipment by post please ensure that it is wrapped carefully to protect it from knocks Note Each group has been provided with two memory cards While one is in the post being processed before being returned the other one can be used for the next survey GOOD LUCK For more information about the project please contact the Project Co ordinator Dr Jon Russ CONTACTS Project Coordinator Jon Russ Tel 02476 850202 Email roadsurvey Q bats org uk 14 Appendix 2 Sonogram Analysis Protocol Protocol Notes e Bats observed in separate extended snapshots are being treated as separate individuals even though in some instances the echolocation calls flowing from one snapshot to the next are obviously the same individuals e It s only necessary to take the peak frequency measurement from
66. rveyed the mean number of total encounters was slightly lower in the second survey Figure 18 60 4 50 4 LN 1st Monitoring transect 2nd Monitoring transect S o 1 Mean number of bat encounters m wo o o 1 1 Figure 18 Mean number of common pipistrelle bat encounters for 1 and 2 monitoring transects Total number of survey block repeated 5 21 4 3 5 3 Soprano pipistrelle Pipistrelllus maeus Of the 5 transects that were repeat surveyed the mean number of total encounters was a third higher than in the second survey Figure 19 Again this shows a different pattern from the common pipistrelle bat Mean number of bat encounters 1 1st Monitoring transect 2nd Monitoring transect Figure 19 Mean number of soprano pipistrelle bat encounters for 1 and 2 monitoring transects Total number of survey block repeated 5 4 3 5 4 Nathusius pipistrelle Pipistrellus nathusii There is currently insufficient data for meaningful analyses 4 3 5 5 Myotis spp There is currently insufficient data for meaningful analyses 4 3 5 6 Leisler s bat Nyctalus leisleri There is currently insufficient data for meaningful analyses 4 3 5 7 Noctule Nyctalus noctula There is currently insufficient data for meaningful analyses 4 3 5 8 Serotine Eptesicus serotinus There is currently insufficient data for meaningful analyses 22 4 3 6 Comparison of Bat Species 4 3 6 1 Bat species encounte
67. s a social call please make a note of it in the BATS analysis sheet 3 FM call or other call FM is the abbreviation of Frequency Modulated and refers to the type of call predominantly produced by some species of British bat These include the Myotis species Daubenton s bat whiskered bat Natterer s bat Brandt s bat Bechstein s bat and the Plecotus species brown long eared bat and grey long eared bat An FM callis one that doesn t include any CF constant frequency component e g a call with a tail You can see that for some calls this may be difficult to see However if you look at the peak frequency of the call see Step 4 you ll see that most of the energy dB is located at the end lowest frequency of the call Note Zoom into the call to see whether an obvious CF tail is present 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window 200 kHz Calls with CF components FM calls 100 kHz lul m 1 KE UN Ma d un eei lunes J ti 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 ms Examples of echolocation calls of British bats Note that these are single calls spliced together into a single file If you decide that the call is an FM call you should enter it into the Myotis box Myo on the BATS analysis sheet You may decide from your own experience that you can identify the bat as a Plecotus species In which case write Plec in the Other box and include the number of individu
68. s small 17 0 02 4 0 018 4 0 016 4 0 014 0 012 0 01 4 0 008 4 No of bat encounters 0 006 4 0 004 0 002 L May June July August September Month Figure 14 Mean number of Leisler s bat encounters per kilometre for each survey month 4 3 3 7 Noctule Nyctalus noctula Highest encounters were in May and September highest June and August showed the lowest encounters Figure 15 0 12 4 0 1 4 e 2 co 1 0 06 4 No of bat encounters 0 04 4 0 02 4 May June July August September Month Figure 15 Mean number of noctule bat encounters per kilometre for each survey month 18 4 3 3 8 Serotine Eptesicus serotinus Highest encounters were in May intermediate encounters in July and August and lowest encounters in June and September Figure 16 0 08 4 0 07 4 0 06 4 0 05 4 0 04 4 No of bat encounters o Ss o o o o n2 wo 0 E T T L May June July August September Month Figure 16 Mean number of serotine bat encounters per kilometre for each survey month Thus the number of bat encounters recorded varied between months and also between the different species studies 4 3 4 Encounter rates and Environmental Conditions To investigate whether there were any relationships between bat encounter rate and environmental conditions such as temperature wind speed and cloud cover which were recorded at the start and end of each survey
69. sc recorder GPS PDA unit clamp and leads and a flashing beacon WHAT WILL BE THE OUTCOMES OF YOUR EFFORT 1 Considerably increase the present number of bat mammal records in your area 2 Provide baseline data for the relative abundance of many mammal species and establish a method for reliably monitoring mammal populations at your county level 3 Establish a database of roadside bat and other mammal records that will inform the planning process and road managers of the impact that roads have on mammal populations In addition it will provide them with the knowledge to identify and subsequently enhance road design and roadside features that have a detrimental affect on mammal populations 4 Monitor potential influx of new bat species into UK as a result of climate change WHEN WILL WE SEE RESULTS A full report will be produced and circulated by January 2006 and sent to all participants All records collected will be made available to MTUK BCT Bat Groups and the NBN IMPORTANT NOTICE The BCT MTUK partnership values its volunteers and depends upon them for performing their charitable work As a volunteer you are under no obligation to carry out whatever work is assigned to you and you may cease acting as a volunteer at any time Nor is BCT BCT MTUK partnership obliged to offer you any work The work you do is unpaid and you are not an employee of BCT BCT MTUK The BCT MTUK will endeavour to provide you with information and guid
70. sions the GPS PDA unit may freeze up and you will not be able to do anything DO NOT CLICK THE RESET BUTTON ON THE BACK OF THE MACHINE OR THE UNIT WILL NEED TO BE RETURNED TO BCT This problem can usually be solved by either waiting or pressing the Power button on the left hand side of the unit See Manual Page 3 If this still doesn t work you can close the program by doing the following Press one of the front buttons on the PDA tap on Start or Tasks in the top left hand corner and select Settings tap on System at the bottom of the screen and selecting the Remove Programs icon tap on the tiny blue word memory at the bottom of the screen click the tab marked Running Programs and select the button marked Stop All Then open Memory Map again by clicking on Start in the top left hand corner You can then start again Testing the minidisk and detector It is important to determine that the time expanded sound from the detector is being recorded correctly to the minidisk To do this set up the minidisk and bat detector as outlined in the sections below Setting up the detector and Setting up the minidisk recorder Turn both devices on and press record on the minidisk Record a few seconds while jingling a set of keys in front of the detector microphone Play back the section you ve recorded to ensure that you can hear the slowed down sound of the keys it should sound like a steamroller running over a group of
71. soprano pipistrelles were the most frequently recorded species on the survey and this provided an opportunity to investigate their relative abundance to each other along roads across the country Figure 21 The overall ratio of common to soprano pipistrelles across all survey areas was 2 8 23 Soprano pipistrelle Common pipistrelle as Figure 21 Ratios of common to soprano pipistrelles for each county surveyed The common pipistrelle predominates in each survey area in England and Wales but results from Scotland show a marked difference with the soprano pipistrelle accounting for 7596 of pipistrelle encounters in both Central Scotland and Clyde 4 3 6 3 Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight Bat Group were enthusiastic participants in the survey but the small size of the island allowed only 2 transects to be driven This provided a unique opportunity to compare seasonal activity from the same transect driven throughout the summer Fig 22 Only one transect is shown as there was missing data on the other transect due to equipment failure 24 120 4 100 80 60 40 20 o No of bat encounters June July August September Month Figure 22 Monthly variation in total bat encounters on the Isle of Wight for survey block SZ3575 Having the same transect surveyed each month allows a comparison of seasonal bat activity All species were grouped together but note that no noctules Leisler s and very few soprano pipi
72. species present Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 251 119 125 J des U 1987 Analysis of the distribution of flying bats along line transects In European Bat Research 1987 eds V Hanak I Horacek amp J Gaisler pp 311 318 Charles University Press Praha McDonald D amp Barrett P 1993 Mammals of Britain and Europe Collins Field Guide HarperCollins London Russ J M Briffa M amp Montgomery W I 2003 Seasonal patterns in activity and habitat use by bats Pipistrellus spp and Nyctalus leisleri in Northern Ireland determined using a driven transect Journal of Zoology London 259 289 299 Rydell J Bushby A Cosgrove C C amp Racey P A 1994 Habitat use by bats along rivers in north east Scotland Folia Zoologica 43 417 424 Vaughan N Jones G Harris S 1997 Habitat use by bats Chiroptera assessed by means of a broad band acoustic method Journal of Applied Ecology 34 716 730 36 8 0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are indebted to the following people for their assistance with the development and management of this project Erika Dahlberg Martin Newman Philip Briggs Anne Youngman Nick Tomlinson Richard Dodd Clare Bowen David Wembridge Laura Hurt Esther Collis Jackie Wedd The following volunteers participated in the project Pam Ash Pete Banfield Kevin Batchelor Anne Best Dave Bird Brian Boag Katherine Boughey Nicky Briscall Neil Brown George Burton Alistair
73. statistical tests were performed on the data for each species separately 4 3 4 1 All bat species There was a significant positive correlation between start temperature and number of bat encounters Appendix 3 Table 6 All other statistical tests between number of bat encounters and climatic variables were not significant 4 3 4 2 Common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus There was a significant positive correlation between start temperature and number of common pipistrelle bat encounters Appendix 3 Table 6 and end temperature and number of common pipistrelle bat encounters Appendix 3 Table 6 All other statistical tests between number of common pipistrelle bat encounters and climatic variables were not significant 19 4 3 4 3 Soprano pipistrelle Pipistrelllus pygmaeus There was a significant positive correlation between start temperature and number of soprano pipistrelle bat encounters Appendix 3 Table 6 and end temperature and number of soprano pipistrelle bat encounters Appendix 3 Table 6 All other statistical tests between number of soprano pipistrelle bat encounters and climatic variables were not significant 4 3 4 4 Nathusius pipistrelle Pipistrellus nathusii There is currently insufficient data for meaningful analyses 4 3 4 5 Myotis spp All statistical tests between number of Myotis bat encounters and climatic variables were not significant 4 3 4 6 Leisler s bat Nyctalus leisleri All statistica
74. stematic night time road surveys for bats and other mammals using a car driven transect HOW The surveys themselves will take place from a moving vehicle driven at 15mph for two hours and covering up to 50km approx 30 miles of single carriageway roads per night The bat recordings will be collected by attaching a time expansion bat detector to the rear window of a car Other mammal sightings will be noted by the surveyors when spotted The use of a portable PDA handheld computer linked to a GPS mapping system will enable accurate geo referencing of records and identify routes driven WHEN The evening surveys will be carried out from the start of May to the end of September 2005 WHERE Groups will be asked to survey two different routes per month of approximately 30 miles in length over the 5 month study period In addition one of the routes surveyed in July will be repeated in August to provide baseline monitoring data Total 11 surveys We have sub divided counties into survey blocks and each route should fit into a single block where possible WHO CAN TAKE PART As no previous experience is required the survey is open to everyone Some training will be provided to help identify mammals spotted along the road and an illustrated information booklet will be provided to all volunteers Training will also be given on the use of GPS PDA and on the use of a minidisk recorder EQUIPMENT NEEDED A time expansion bat detector minidi
75. strelles were recorded in the Isle of Wight June shows markedly fewer encounters compared with other months and highest encounter rates were in July 4 3 6 4 Variation in echolocation call peak frequency of pipistrelles To investigate whether there were differences in the peak echolocation frequency for common and soprano pipistrelles between geographical areas sonogram analysers were asked to record the peak frequency of the echolocation calls of the pipistrelle bats that they identified The mean peak frequency of the echolocation calls of the soprano pipistrelle for England Scotland and Wales with standard deviations was 55 3 2 3 55 2 2 2 and 55 3 2 3 respectively The mean peak frequency of the echolocation calls of the common pipistrelle for England Scotland and Wales with standard deviations was 45 7 1 4 45 4 1 6 and 45 7 1 5 respectively However there was no apparent difference in peak frequency of common pipistrelle or soprano pipistrelle echolocation calls between Wales England and Scotland The overall peak frequency of the echolocation calls of the soprano pipistrelle was 55 2 2 3 and the overall peak frequency of the echolocation calls of the common pipistrelle was 45 7 1 4 Figure 23 25 300 4 200 0 il S gt Mr 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Peak frequency kHz Frequency of occurrence Figure 23 Peak echolocation c
76. t by Rydell et al 1994 and Russ et al 2003 Daytime terrestrial roadside mammal surveys have been carried out by the Mammals Trust UK MTUK since 2001 The Bat Conservation Trust worked with the Irish Heritage Council to refine the approach and used time expansion detectors to deliver an Irish National bat monitoring project Catto et al 2004 and the method was further refined on this project through use of Global Positioning Systems GPS to geo reference records The use of the Personal Data Assistant PDA with digital 1 50000 maps enabled surveyors to record the exact route driven and to orientate themselves quickly and efficiently at night The approach of simultaneously surveying for bats and other mammals provides the most complete mammal survey that delivers on aspirations of the Tracking Mammals Partnership Overall the method proved reliable and delivered a substantial amount of records in a short space of time Volunteers were able to implement the methods and the use of the GPS PDA system together with the software program written by Martin Newman made geo referencing of records quick and simple However technology is changing all the time and where new technology will improve the survey it should be considered Recommendation the core methodology should be used in future but where technological advances in equipment or software could improve the method they should be used In such instances care should be taken to ensure monitorin
77. ta for long term monitoring Only 5 of the 10 bat groups carried out an additional monitoring transect in July August probably due to the large number of other surveys that are carried out during this busy period See Volunteer Effort section earlier The aim of the monitoring transects was to set up a long term local and regional monitoring project for bat species At present the National Bat Monitoring Programme delivers this at a UK country level but the car survey method can deliver local monitoring as more data can be collected with a few surveyors These surveys should then compliment each other and deliver the aspiration of local bat volunteers Clearly one year s data is insufficient to analyse the robustness of monitoring conclusions However previous work in the Republic of Ireland demonstrated the efficacy of the car monitoring method to deliver robust monitoring for common pipistrelles soprano pipistrelles and Leisler s bat At this stage we feel there is no reason why it should not work additionally for noctules and serotines Recommendation Ensure monitoring transects are surveyed twice annually in July August The Isle of Wight The fact that the Isle of Wight could only carry out two transects as a result of the size of the island allowed an opportunity for monthly surveying of the same transect Comparing repeat surveys of the same transects provided a more robust analysis of monthly variation in bat encounters the effect of 32
78. the first clear echolocation calls within each snapshot e It s not necessary to make a note of every echolocation call found within a snapshot if they appear to be produced by the same individual pe wg Bats and Roadside Mammals Survey Du la ou SONOGRAM ANALYSIS Mammals Trust UK 1l EQUIPMENT You will need a BatSound sound analysis software b A home computer laptop with a CD drive You will be sent a a CD containing the sound files from a single survey and an Excel spreadsheet containing the GPS data b ABAT Analysis Sheet c AMAMMAL Analysis Sheet 2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 200 kHz m Expanded Snapshot Minidisc sound file e suene Sonograms Snapshot 100 kHz Time secs 0 5 10 15 Bat detector snapshots 0 32s every 23 6m GPS data every 15m 0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 e The diagram above illustrates the method used during the car survey for recording bats e During each car survey a time expansion bat detector records 0 32s snapshots of high frequency sound along the route every 3 5s approximately If the car is travelling at 15mph this means that the detector is recording sound every 23 6m 2 3 Note a b c d e f After each of these snapshots the sound recorded during the snapshot is stretched out time expanded by a factor of ten to lower the high frequency sound to frequencies that are audible
79. to humans This stretched or expanded sound is subsequently recorded onto a minidisk Each route is about 30 miles long which means that each minidisk contains about 2 hours of expanded snapshots In addition to recording high frequency sounds every 20m a GPS recorder records the location grid reference altitude and distance from the start into a data file By comparing the minidisk time to the nearest GPS time the location at which each bat call was heard can be determined To facilitate analysis the 2 hour minidisk track had been split into manageable 5 minute tracks and transferred to a CD The GPS data file has been transferred to an Excel spreadsheet SONOGRAM ANALYSIS Sonogram Spectrogram Insert the CD into the CD drive Start BatSound Browse to the CD and open the first file 01 in the sequence The sound files have been labelled sequentially e g 0405055P3570 01 0405055P3570 02 0405055P3570 03 and each file or track contains 5 minutes of sound recorded during each survey 01 0 8 minutes 02 5 10 minutes etc The first part of the file name refers to the survey date and the block code Change the BatSound settings see Appendix A You are now going to scroll forward through the sound file by clicking in front of the scroll bar at the bottom of the screen until you come across a potential bat call You can choose the amount of visible track time i e what you can see on the screen Note ho
80. ve a trip meter then record the exact mileage at the start 4 Turn on the flashing beacon 5 Turn on the detector 6 Finally start driving away and AT THE SAME TIME press record on the minidisk and take a note of the start time including seconds Try to keep at a constant speed of 15mph Occasionally it will be necessary to increase your speed for example when crossing dual carriageways railway lines etc However please note that we have been advised by the police that it is not legal to have a flashing orange beacon on the car at speeds over 25mph 11 4 DURING THE SURVEY As you progress the route you have travelled should appear as a solid red line on the GPS PDA map Notes Troubleshooting gt If your route does not appear try a setting up the GPS see Turn on GPS PDA unit to receive a signal above or b Waiting a few minutes to see if the GPS needs to locate satellites Note that if you begin your transect in dense cover such as woodland the GPS will have a lot of trouble locating you Try starting elsewhere gt If you find that your location drifts off the visible area of the map try clicking the padlock icon G gt If you take a wrong turn don t panic Either backtrack or choose an alternative route to intercept with your original route It is much more important to keep going at a steady pace than spend a lot of time trying to find your original route The GPS PDA should give you an idea of wher
81. was the fact that the skills and knowledge of the Project Co ordinator were transferred to the volunteers as these can be used in other ways to enhance conservation activities 4 0 RESULTS 4 1 Survey effort Detail of survey effort are presented in Table 1 in Appendix 3 4 2 Description of Dataset Generated A total of 74 routes were surveyed and analysable bat sonogram data for 60 5 no returns 9 not competed successfully For other mammal data 72 4 no returns sheets were analysable Of the unsuccessful bat sonogram data returns 1 was attributable to a corrupt minidisc 1 to a lost minidisk 3 to problems with the Pettersson D240x now solved and 4 due to unknown reasons but possibly due to a low bat detector sensitivity setting being selected Details of all surveys are presented in Table 2 in Appendix 3 A total of 3573 km were driven and of this total 2898 km were surveyed successfully for bats with resultant analysable sonograms and 3381 km for other mammals mammal datasheet was returned A total of 4719 bats were recorded from 7 bat species species groups and a total of 399 other mammal species were recorded from 21 species species groups A breakdown of all survey transects driven with total numbers of mammal encounters are presented in Tables 3 and 4 in Appendix 3 The distribution of survey areas can be seen in Figure 2
82. wever that although increasing visible track time means that you will get through the CD a lot quicker the likelihood of missing a bat will increase We recommend selecting a single expanded snapshot approx 350ms to start with and then increasing this to a maximum of 5 expanded snapshots approx 1750ms as your ability to identify a potential bat call improves You can change the amount of visible time by zooming out Tools Zoom Out and zooming in highlight a section and then Tools Zoom In When you have identified a potential bat call s zoom in to a single expanded snapshot about 350ms This will make it easier to compare the call with those presented in the key Then follow the key in Appendix B 4 90 dB 70 dB 50 dB 30 dB 10 dB Spectrogram FFT size 1024 Hanning window g Once you have identified the bat echolocation or social call 20kHz make a note of the species on the BATS analysis sheet Include the track number e g 01 02 03 and the time in ms of the call or if there s a sequence of calls the first call Tue in the sequence Note If the settings are correct the time L 1 L should be between 0 and 30000 ms Make a note of the peak S L mt nt vy E E frequency on the BATS analysis Si Secs un cS e DET L e sheet 18900 18950 19000 19050 19100 19150 19200 ms h When you have done this carry Time Measurement on scrolling through the track i Bat calls in separate expanded snapshots
83. which aims to improve the quality quantity and dissemination of information on the status of mammal species in the UK Funding for the project was provided by the MTUK Some bat groups also made a financial contribution The project built on previous nocturnal mammal roadside projects devised and managed by the BCT in the Republic of Ireland and Hertfordshire in 2002 2003 The fundamental objective was to increase the number of geo referenced mammal records along roads and to ensure that such records collected would further the conservation of roadside mammals through ensuring collected mammal records were available to land managers and thus helping inform planning decisions and providing records to researchers to identify roadside features that are beneficial to selected mammal populations The project was designed to be cost effective and to lay the foundation for long term sustainability through empowering volunteers to carry out much of the required work ranging from fieldwork to sonogram analysis A part time Project Co ordinator was employed by the Bat Conservation Trust to run the project Aims 1 Considerably increase the present number of bat mammal records through implementing a cost effective mammal survey method and develop a system to ensure such records are available to land managers 2 Develop a long term method for monitoring populations for selected species at the local and regional levels 3 Collect data systematically

Bats and Roadside Mammals Survey Report 2005

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