Day 255 - Failed Experiment

catch that pigeon

It was another of those longest days today...but not in a good way!

Work was really busy all day, culminating in an intensely frustrating and inconveniently over-run meeting with HR (how do these people sleep?!)...so I left work just before 5pm, later than intended, and had to (literally - and I mean that...well...literally!) run round Sainsbury's to grab a few supplies, before dashing home by around 5.40pm.

I'd promised to help Anna with some weird bat bothering escapade this evening, and as it was taking place in Melton Mowbray, we had to be away by 6pm. 

By 7.30pm we were on site and preparing to start the survey.

The plan was for each of us to take a pre-planned and very specific route around the perimeter of two adjoining fields.  We were to spend 5 minutes in one spot, listening for and recording bat sightings, before spending 5 minutes moving slowly on to the next spot (whilst listening for and recording bat sightings).   This process was repeated 12 times over 2 hours, as we covered both fields between us. 

In order to complete this seemingly simple task, I had to carry in one hand a clipboard with a map and spare paper for recording manually if needed.  In my other hand, I was to carry a bat detector (which transposes the sound of a bat's echolocation down to a frequency that human's can hear).

In my other, other hand, I carried a large box containing a sound recording system, to record any passing bat activity for later analysis.  In my final other hand, I held my smartphone and recorded details of any sightings onto a Google Form (one handed of course).

I had to do this whilst walking around an unfamiliar field, in the deepening dark of night.

So that was easy...not!

All was quiet for the first and last 50 minutes or so, but in the middle there was a flurry of bat activity....mostly pipistrelles foraging and commuting, although there were one or two other species which I'm not familiar enough with to be able to identify. 

I did catch a brief glimpse of a fox, sneaking through the field behind me, and at one point a deer was barking away just a few metres away from me on the other side of the hedgerow. 

The photo above was an experiment with Night mode, using a new camera app I've been playing with on my phone.  I'd disturbed a pigeon which was hiding in the long grass, and didn't seem able to fly away...this is an 8 second exposure of that pigeon!

So, erm yeah...Fail!!

Finally, to illustrate just how long a day it's been, check this out...

what's in the bag?!

I've been waiting for this big bag of SportPursuit delights to arrive for weeks...today, at last, it arrived...

But it's just a few minutes before midnight now, and I have yet to open it!

This will soon be rectified!

;-)