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Post by Psamathe on Apr 19, 2020 10:57:08 GMT
Over the years I've been trying to encourage wildlife through changes to my garden (e.g. piles of old branches/sticks, creating hedgerow, bat roost boxes) but with the lockdown, I've suddenly realised I have no idea how successful my efforts have been. There are some bats around; the roost boxes tend to have a couple of bats in them (one was even attacked by a woodpecker psamathe.net/bat-box-woodpecker/) though I don't check very often (but checking does not disturb them at all). And I had a bat come into the house the other day. So I'm thinking of buying a bat detector but given it's only for use in my garden I don't want to spent vast sums but the cheaper ones I've seen have silly bat outlines on them making them look a bit like toys ("Noddy does Bat Detecting"). There looked a better one that clips to the bottom of an iPhone but fixed to lightening connector looks a bit fragile (particularly if in future I did use it wandering through forests at night). So I'm confused, not wanting to spend a fortune but also not wanting to waste money on a rubbish toy. Does anybody have any advice or experience or thoughts or anything to help me clarify my thoughts. Maybe it's a bit of a waste of money anyway given I'd only be testing for bats in one area and I can stand outside an see them anyway. Many thanks Ian |
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Post by aeshna5 on Apr 19, 2020 17:29:20 GMT
Magenta bat detectors are pretty good but not ultra cheap.
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Post by Psamathe on Apr 20, 2020 12:21:04 GMT
Magenta bat detectors are pretty good but not ultra cheap. Many thanks. Always my problem with technical things is that there is always a slightly better modelfor slightly mor emoney so the unit I favour gets gradually more and more expensive as I go for something (slightly) better and (slightly) more expensive until it get OTT and I have a re-think and just back down to low budget ones and the process starts again! (Used to be the same buying Dell computers years ago when the catalogues have a table at the back and you can get a bigger monitor for +£15 then bigger disk for +£20 then more RAM for +£15, etc. until you were at the bottom right corner buying a top spec machine! I don't have a budget but recognise it's a limited use thing as I'm interested but not a bat researcher but I was beginning to thing about the Echo Meter Touch 2 www.wildlifeacoustics.com/products/echo-meter-touch-2-ios. Rather expensive but plugs into an iPhone (Android version but I'm iPhone) and looks like it has some amazing software (but rather pricey). |
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Post by rowanberry on Apr 20, 2020 21:09:39 GMT
I can't advise you Psamathe, since I know nothing about bat detectors, (although I've seen them used once when I went on a bat-detecting walk organised by the Friends group of a nearby woodland) but I just wanted to say welcome to Wabi, and I hope someone can give you some pointers on which one might suit you!
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Post by Psamathe on Apr 22, 2020 15:46:55 GMT
I decided to spend more than intended and I went for the little unit that plugs into my iPhone (or iPad). Ordered and not yet arrived but I could post details/impressions once it's arrived and I have some experience of it.
But I'm unsure what might be construed as advertising (though I have no involvement with the devices or selling the devices so it would be purely as a purchaser).
Ian
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Post by rowanberry on Apr 23, 2020 16:22:28 GMT
Oh, we don't worry about that... if something works, we let everyone know about it!  If your bat detector turns out to be a good device, we'd all be happy to hear about it... let us know how you get on with it once it arrives. |
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Post by Psamathe on May 4, 2020 9:06:05 GMT
(I'm not a bat expert so my experiences are very much my first attempts) I got an Echo Meter Touch 2 for my iPhone/iPad (Android versions available) www.wildlifeacoustics.com/products/echo-meter-touch-2-ios. Two "levels" available, the standard ("cheaper") and the "Pro" (better quality microphone and much more expensive and really for bat "professionals"). The detector connect to your lightening (iPhone/iPad) (or USB'y for Android?) and there is an app that controls the little box. Even the "standard" model cost more than I wanted to pay but ... (can't travel, stuck at home ...) You don't tune any frequencies, it listens and displays spectrum and level analysis plots in real-time. For many areas of the world (incl. Europe) it carries out automated species identification though it seems to need you to select from a narrowed down list - in my case it got to pipistrelle and I had to say if Common or Soprano (which surprised me as the peak frequency was at the Common Pipistrelle level below the Soprano). The app is good but does not follow the iPhone/iPad standard user interface but that is not a major issue. I've only had an initial play but features that I like: a. Auto-record - app listens out and starts recording when it hears a bat b. At same time it converts the bat sounds down to lower frequencies so you can listen. c. Plots spectrum and level graphs on screen in real-time. d. Download recordings and plot graphs on computer. It can all get a bit of an "overload" even with just one bat flying around. Starts recording, pops-up a species choice (after it's narrowed down), by which time it's ended recording (as bat stopped calling) and restarted a new recording before you've said which bat it was. But that is not a big issue as it's all recorded and you can download the recordings to a computer (Mac or Windows) and use their free software to display the plots (there is a high-end expensive package but the "viewer" is free forever). My first evening recording psamathe.net/south-norfolk-bats/It was more expensive that I wanted but I am impressed and if I could re-make my decision I'd do the same (but it). Ian |
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