nice surprise

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i managed to oversleep today - mainly as i was out counting bats until late last night. i had a job application to do and the deadline was noon today. i was munching toast and slurping coffee as i finished it off and then went to send it, only to find Hotmail wasn't working properly (for the umpteenth day in a row) and wouldn't attach the document.

panicking, i managed to get another email open and sent to application with 4 minutes to spare.

then i opened the package that had arrived for me.
it was a book called 'The Wildlife Gardener' by Kate Bradbury (no relation to Ray). I'd helped Kate look for reptiles last year as part of the book and i had a thank you in it as well as the free copy. she'd also written a thank you in the front and signed it for me - a very lovely present.

also... this has cheered me up no end... there was a thank you card and a bag of organic coffee that Kate had bought on a recent trip to view wildlife and plants in Colombia. she said she'd remembered that i liked coffee and got it for me.

having the unemployement and post birthday blues, this has REALLY cheered me up, such a thoughtful gift.

the book is lovely too, full of wonderful info on plants and animals and some lovely photos (not just of the reptiles).
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Lovely!
 

Archie_tect

De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
Location
Northumberland
Laurence, if you have qualifications and practical experience surveying bats, then you can find lots of work doing bat surveys working for people who have to submit ecology reports to validate planning applications either with ecological surveyors, on your own or with a local bat group. A typical bat survey can easily cost between £450 and £1500 depending on the nature of the survey and the number of people required and whether Natural England require a licence to move any bats found. Good luck.
 
Laurence, if you have qualifications and practical experience surveying bats, then you can find lots of work doing bat surveys working for people who have to submit ecology reports to validate planning applications either with ecological surveyors, on your own or with a local bat group. A typical bat survey can easily cost between £450 and £1500 depending on the nature of the survey and the number of people required and whether Natural England require a licence to move any bats found. Good luck.

thanks kind people.

Archie - i am looking into ecology work as some friends do it. the main problem is i have no car and a lot of sites are out of the way. i've been given details of a company who might help though.
 

Archie_tect

De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
Location
Northumberland
Just have an arrangement with a local taxi to negotiate a rate per site to those more distant... and always bike to ones close enough!
Depending on where you live, there will be a local Bat Group you can join + there are people you can contact to chat through what you need....
+ your reptile knowledge will be in demand for ecology surveys, especially for great crested newts!
 
[QUOTE 2503806, member: 9609"]@laurence Do you know anything about bat boxes? We have bats flying around our house in the evening and I would like to put up some sort of roost for them. Loads of stuff on the internet but it quite often contradicts itself so I am not sure what type of construction to use or where to site box.

And if I had a bat box up and being used - could it effect my ability to sell my house. (not that I'm thinking of moving, just thinking ahead)[/quote]

bats can be terribly picky... also they are very set in their roosting ways. they are quite long lived, which may be why as it tends to take a while before they settle into a new home.

bat boxes are hard to site too - more so than bird boxes, but they should work, but it may take a while for them to be used.

i would have thought a bat box would be a good thing for a house - if bats are roosting in the loft of the house, then you're stuffed if you want to do any work in there. at least with an external roost it would take away any issues with them being inside. then again, if they're already inside they probably won't want to go out!

bats do have roosts for different seasons, so they may use a box to hang out (arf) on a feeding trip. basically, it can't hurt putting one up. maybe, by the time you eventually move, the opinions on bats would have changed and most people won't think they are evil beasties.
 
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