December 2012

14th. I'm helping with a composition by Bristol audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde that involves a choir making sounds that are sampled and then replayed in ways that mimic bat echolocation (e.g. sounds get faster as the person with the device approaches an object). Here's a work in progress at the Watershed Pervasive Media Studio.

5th-8th. In May 2007 I was in Washington D.C. to attend a meeting hosted by Conservation International to discuss the viability of monitoring bat populations in the tropics. One of the outcomes of that meeting was that a group of us wrote a paper on the roles of bats as bioindicators.

The paper inspired a meeting in Granollers, Barcelona on this theme, attracting over 90 delegates from 23 countries.

I had time for one evening in the city to enjoy the Gaudi architecture (smartphone shots of Sagrada Familia and Casa Batllo below), Rioja and tapas.

On the return journey we flew over the Pyrenees which was timely as I gave a talk at the meeting about their role in trapping genetic diversity under climate change.

2nd. Some nice waxwings today at Bulwark. Biggest count was about 150 birds. They have stripped some of the rowan trees, and descend to the ground to feed on the fallen berries.