Citizen Science in the dark: acoustic monitoring for the masses

Technology advances and development of analytical techniques, coupled with reduced costs of hardware, has made large-scale acoustic recording of several taxa increasingly feasible, opening up new approaches to monitoring, research and engagement. The project was set up to improve understanding of local patterns of occurrence and activity of bat species. The approach of setting up a network of data centres across the county where volunteers can arrange to borrow and return equipment allowed a large number to carry out the surveys. This resulted in a far larger and more comprehensive dataset than could have been achieved with alternative models. These data feed into county reporting, to help make decisions, including planning decisions at a local level for bats.
Research and development has focused on quantifying likely impact of planned housing development on the distribution and activity of bats. Findings from work were published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. The influence of different mitigation measures for reducing negative effects of new housing were explored, along with wider impacts of new housing, and ways in which these could be mitigated. Working with the Paris Natural History Museum and Natural England algorithms were also developed for the semi-automated sound identification of UK bush-crickets. With continued collaboration with Yves Bas in Paris this work was extended to build a classifier for a suite of nocturnal birds.