Bats & Ladders

Stories from the Real World of Bat Conservation

George Bemment

Entertaining and humorous perspective on wildlife conservation work.
Personal experiences from 36 years of bat work: the good, the bad and the absurd.
The breadth of characters met throughout the years, uplifting and rewarding.

George Bemment is an amusing speaker and thank goodness her book reflects this ability. This warm and amusing account of her escapades is a uniquely good yarn that I would recommend quite thoroughly to all.
—Derek Gow, author of Bringing Back the Beaver

Subject: zoology ecology mammals chiroptera-bats

Tags:

bats
behaviour
chiroptera
Coming Soon
conservation
survey

Description

Here are the remarkable and captivating tales from one woman’s nearly 40-year career spent looking for bats and their roosts. Humorous and honest, she writes about these fascinating animals, and about dodgy ladders, small spaces and a multitude of characters – sometimes delightful, occasionally awful, but always human.

George Bemment introduces the wonder of British bats and shares what it takes to be involved in wildlife conservation. From the rigours of surveys, to otters in wheelbarrows, and interactions with police and the press, we find out about life at the sharp end of being an ecologist on the ground… and in the attic.

With no shortage of poo stories along the way – think dung pits, latrines, smelly roosts – and intriguing interactions with animals, from milking aardvarks to a house full of rabbits, George takes us behind the scenes of a life working with and protecting wildlife. Amidst the variety of curious and intriguing animal behaviour she has witnessed over the years, it is, of course, humans who turn out to be the oddest creatures of all.

DOI: 10.53061/RFJV9716

Reviews

An entertaining romp through the working life of a pioneer in bat consultancy. A look back to a time before guidance, when tech was in its infancy, and the ecologist pitted their wits against the bats in a struggle to help them, whether they liked it or not!
—Henry Andrews, bat ecology specialist
George Bemment is an amusing speaker and thank goodness her book reflects this ability. This warm and amusing account of her escapades is a uniquely good yarn that I would recommend quite thoroughly to all.
—Derek Gow, author of Bringing Back the Beaver

About the Author

George Bemment has been involved with mammals her whole working life, as a zookeeper for five years before taking a zoology degree and then in 1988 joining the staff of a national bat conservation project. Professional and voluntary bat work has dominated the last 36 years. A mammalogist at heart, George taught as a part-time lecturer in mammalogy at Exeter University between 1998 and 2005, sat on the Council of the Mammal Society for ten years and is a founding member of the Devon Mammal Group.