Envisage Wildcare offer a wide range of bat detecting equipment to both the ecological and environmental trade and the general public. They are able to detect the presence of bats by detecting their ultrasound signals (noises which are above human audible frequencies) and converting them to sounds which are audible to humans.
Do you know your Pipistrelles from your Horseshoes?
Once you have some experience of listening to different species of bat through your bat detector, you will be able to identify them by the differing frequencies and repetition rates as they hunt at night.
EM3 Bat Detector
The latest product from Wildlife Acoustics is the EM3 Bat Detector, which is designed for active monitoring of bat activity, it’s a self contained hand held detector which is ideal for surveying and field trips. This unit differs from the long established SM2 which is designed for long term autonomous recordings. It can be used with headphones or if out on a bat walk it also has a built in speaker, so everyone can hear.
The SM2 Bat Detector in contrast with the EM3 is much larger and tends to be mounted in a single location and left for prolonged periods of time to record over much longer timeframes.
Bat Box
The Bat Box is another detector available on the market (not a bat box in the sense of somewhere to attract bats to live), the Bat Box Duet has heterodyne and frequency division detection, this means the user is able to tune the device to a specific frequency, typically for a particular species, it can simultaneously scan and record the entire frequency range. This very sturdy unit also has both headphone socket and an on-board speaker.
The Bat Box IIID is an updated model from the popular Bat Box III, it’s a particularly sensitive device but does not incorporate recording, however it’s priced accordingly.
The Baton
The Baton bat detector with it’s unique design is another frequency division detector and does not require tuning. It also comes packaged with analysis software which includes examples of bat calls.
Magenta Bat Detector
Magenta manufacture a range of highly competitively priced units. They include an integral speaker and one hand operation with a rotary wheel mounted on the front for easy tuning.
Pettersson
Some of the most advanced bat detection technology available, the compact and lightweight Pettersson D1000X has 16 bit recording functionality (with sample rates from 32-768 kHz) which stores your data onto a flash card, this coupled with the high quality sensitive microphone which offers low distortion, low noise and a fantastic dynamic range, makes this, arguably the best bat detector on the market.
Also available are the D200 and D100 bat detection devices.
If you are interested in getting involved in a bat conservation or surveying project, the Bat Conservation Trust would be able to point you in the direction of a local group.
