Social Calls of the Bats of Britain and Ireland

Many sounds produced by bats when not commuting or foraging are often lower in frequency than the species’ echolocation calls. These are assumed to be for communication, and are often grouped together and referred to as ’social calls’ although the purpose of many of these are not known. Clearly understanding these calls has the potential to improve our ability to identify species for species where the echolocation is similar, and to assist in interpreting behaviour (e.g. territorial behaviour of males during the mating season).

This book is the first attempt to pull together and summarise the current knowledge of social calls of bats occurring within Britain and Ireland. This is a complex area of study, where there is still much to learn. However this book and downloadable call library does a really good job in highlighting the potential for social calls for understanding bats, and for making this information available to all. I know from my own work on bats in Norfolk, I have largely focused on echolocation calls, with another ground-breaking book published by Pelagic Publishing by Jon Russ on British Bat Calls: A

Guide to Species Identification being my core reference. This new book on social calls is a perfect companion to this, and one which has already inspired me to look back at the recordings I have been getting this season.

Book reviewed by Stuart Newson