Bats & Ladders Stories from the Real World of Bat Conservation

About this book

Here are the remarkable and captivating tales from one woman's nearly 40-year career spent looking for bats and their roosts. Humorous and honest, she writes about these fascinating animals, and about dodgy ladders, small spaces and a multitude of characters – sometimes delightful, occasionally awful, but always human.

George Bemment introduces the wonder of British bats and shares what it takes to be involved in wildlife conservation. From the rigours of surveys to otters in wheelbarrows and interactions with police and the press, we find out about life at the sharp end of being an ecologist on the ground... and in the attic.

With no shortage of poo stories along the way – think dung pits, latrines, smelly roosts – and intriguing interactions with animals, from milking aardvarks to a house full of rabbits, George takes us behind the scenes of a life working with and protecting wildlife. Amidst the variety of curious and intriguing animal behaviour she has witnessed over the years, it is, of course, humans who turn out to be the oddest creatures of all.

Contents

Introduction

1. The Lord up a Ladder (Part One)
2. The Otter in the Wheelbarrow, and Welcome to the World of Bat Work
3. Is a Bat a Rodent? Will It Eat Banana? and Other Questions
4. Meet the Owners
5. Of Carpets and Exploding Nappies
6. The Lord up a Ladder (Part Two)
7. The Joy of Ladders
8. Oh Crap!
9. Can I Help You, Officer?
10. Batting from a Boat
11. The Jacket on the Back of the Door
12. Call the Press!
13. Teamwork
14. I’ll Just Have a Look in the Attic

Notes
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

George Bemment has been involved with mammals her whole working life, as a zookeeper for five years before taking a zoology degree and then in 1988 joining the staff of a national bat conservation project. Professional and voluntary bat work has dominated the last 36 years. A mammalogist at heart, George taught as a part-time lecturer in mammalogy at Exeter University between 1998 and 2005, sat on the Council of the Mammal Society for ten years and is a founding member of the Devon Mammal Group.