Anne Youngman was the Bat Conservation Trust's (BCT) first Scottish Bat Officer from 2003 to 2017, & is very well known & respected within the bat community, not only in the UK, but also much further afield. This is her third time on Talking Bat, & on this occasion we focus on her next challenge, this time to run a 100 km ultra-marathon on 20.07.24, a challenge that could take almost 19 hours to complete. Why? It's all for charity \o/ in order to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support & HospiceCare North Northumberland, two amazing organisations which helped her & her family at a time when they didn't know where to turn. Run Anne Run - Give Folks Give! Just Giving Page Anne’s 100k ultra marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support & HospiceCare North Northumberland

Steve Roe (Vice Chair of BCT & Pete Guest Award winner 2023) is the producer & presenter of BCT's award winning BatChat podcast. He gets many opportunities to interview people about bat work in the UK. This time we get the opportunity to turn the mic & interview him \o/. Find out lots about his back story (he started his 'bat life' early!) & achievements to date, as well as some thoughts on the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ professionals within the ecology sector.

Bat Conservation Trust (BCT)

CIEEM Article - Supporting LGBTQ+ Professionals

Here we talk with the delightful, highly respected & knowledgeable botanist, Joshua Styles of Styles Ecology Ltd & British Botany, covering some of his back-story, his career progression to date, as well as the expertise & services he has to offer the ecological sector. North-West Rare Plant Initiative The Wildlife Trust for Manchester, Lancashire & North Merseyside

A Cork-born ornithologist, Sean Ronayne returned home to Ireland after living in Barcelona for 3 years. He is a highly respected wildlife sound recorderist (Sound Of The Year awards winner 2020), & is almost at the end of a journey to record all of the birds present in Ireland, a journey that has taken him to the highest level of appreciation for all of his hard work & resilience. Want to know more? Listen to the interview :-)

Irish Wildlife Sounds

The Tommy Tiernan Show with guest Sean Ronayne

Follow Sean Ronayne on Twitter: @SoundsIrish

Every month Aileen Hendry (BatAbility Courses & Tuition) is joined by Neil Middleton to deliver a 'light-hearted' monthly update for our BatAbility Club members. We are sharing it here for the benefit of anyone who wishes to find out more about what we are up to.

If you are not a Club member, but would like to know more about how to join up, please go to the following link: batability.co.uk/batability-club/

Fiona Mathews is highly respected internationally for her academic work on mammals (including bats) & other subjects. She is the founding chair of Mammal Conservation Europe, a former chair of the Mammal Society, a trustee of the Kasanka Trust (UK), the co-founder & director of Ecotype Genetics Ltd, & also serves on the Eurobats Scientific Advisory Committee. Add to all that, her recent book Black Ops and Beaver Bombing: Adventures with Britain's Wild Mammals (April 2023) - my word, we certainly had lots to chat about.

Fiona Mathews ResearchGate

Many have listened to him on Birder's Twitter, so we felt we should get him on here for an interview & find out more about Jonny Rankin who is well known & highly respected within birding circles. And we certainly ticked all the boxes as we explored Jonny's backstory, his extreme fundraising activities (Dove Step & Tern The Tide), as well as more background about Birder's Twitter, & the Birder's Space website & podcast.

Follow Jonny on Twitter: @step_dove

The Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project

If you deal with Titley Scientific in Europe then the chances are you have had the pleasure of meeting (or at least communicating with) their UK/Europe Sales Support Manager, Andrew Dobson. We felt it would be great to let you find out so much more about the person behind the products & services they distribute in Europe, & this interview certainly gets well into Andrew's background prior to & after the relaunch of Titley Scientific in 2013.

Follow Titley Scientific on Twitter