Phil Atkin
@ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social
I make software, electronics and 3D prints to enable people on tiny budgets to hear and record the extraordinary sounds of bats. Big fan of wildlife, of records with prominent guitars and snappy snares, and every second of the 1970s.
I built 2 pippygs today, stuck one outside for an hour and a half (from 17.45 to 19.15) and had 200 bat detections, 5 species according to the BTO, definitely 4 species minimum, and there was a distant passing Noctule that I missed in my visual scan of the sonograms. Yay!
October 31, 2025 at 8:02 PM
I built 2 pippygs today, stuck one outside for an hour and a half (from 17.45 to 19.15) and had 200 bat detections, 5 species according to the BTO, definitely 4 species minimum, and there was a distant passing Noctule that I missed in my visual scan of the sonograms. Yay!
Every time I add a new feature I have to update the damn PDF. It drives me CRAZY. Can't people just work this stuff out telepathically without me having to tell them?
October 31, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Every time I add a new feature I have to update the damn PDF. It drives me CRAZY. Can't people just work this stuff out telepathically without me having to tell them?
The lovely and much-missed Claire’s final paper is published today, on the science results of the Bats in Churches project - besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Understanding bats in English churches: A citizen science approach
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:55 AM
The lovely and much-missed Claire’s final paper is published today, on the science results of the Bats in Churches project - besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
I know everyone's (quite rightly) excited about TTFKA Prince Andrew, but I'm really excited because we watched The Other Guys yesterday, and it's even funnier third time around.
a man with a beard and a woman are sitting on a couch in a room .
ALT: a man with a beard and a woman are sitting on a couch in a room .
media.tenor.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:33 PM
I know everyone's (quite rightly) excited about TTFKA Prince Andrew, but I'm really excited because we watched The Other Guys yesterday, and it's even funnier third time around.
Can you believe that in 2 days’ time Bohemian Rhapsody will be 50 years old? Blimey.
October 29, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Can you believe that in 2 days’ time Bohemian Rhapsody will be 50 years old? Blimey.
Well, I just finished The Rose Field. And I must say, it would have been a much better read if he’d bothered to write an ending.
October 26, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Well, I just finished The Rose Field. And I must say, it would have been a much better read if he’d bothered to write an ending.
Just saw the Springsteen film. Ignore the negative reviews, it's a proper film, emotional and real and moving and quite brilliant.
October 24, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Just saw the Springsteen film. Ignore the negative reviews, it's a proper film, emotional and real and moving and quite brilliant.
Not sure what The Sun have been smoking - Riot Women was quite brilliant. And Rosalie Craig was on fire throughout, and I'm sure she spent a higher percentage of her screen time playing drunk than any other woman in recent history.
www.thesun.co.uk/tv/37030834/...
www.thesun.co.uk/tv/37030834/...
Riot Women is latest woke drama ruining TV - but I've found one that isn't awful
SAY what you like about Sally Wainwright’s new BBC1 drama Riot Women – and I will in a second – you can’t fault the darkest instincts of two of its characters. Joanna Scanlan’s “invisible” Beth and…
www.thesun.co.uk
October 22, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Not sure what The Sun have been smoking - Riot Women was quite brilliant. And Rosalie Craig was on fire throughout, and I'm sure she spent a higher percentage of her screen time playing drunk than any other woman in recent history.
www.thesun.co.uk/tv/37030834/...
www.thesun.co.uk/tv/37030834/...
The implementation of windowed apps on iOS 26 is a trainwreck. Fortunately there is a setting to force all apps full-screen. Unfortunately the iPad just randomly unsets it, and jumps back into windowed operation. I have submitted a bug report but honestly, do Apple even read them nowadays?
October 21, 2025 at 9:43 AM
The implementation of windowed apps on iOS 26 is a trainwreck. Fortunately there is a setting to force all apps full-screen. Unfortunately the iPad just randomly unsets it, and jumps back into windowed operation. I have submitted a bug report but honestly, do Apple even read them nowadays?
I really didn’t like this record when it came out. A massive tonal shift away from Taking Tiger Mountain, and unrecognisable as a piece by the guy who recorded Here Come the Warm Jets. It took me decades to recognise and appreciate its brilliance.
Brian Eno: Another Green World in BEAT INSTRUMENTAL January 1976 #review www.moredarkthanshark.org/eno_int_bi-j...
October 17, 2025 at 7:44 AM
I really didn’t like this record when it came out. A massive tonal shift away from Taking Tiger Mountain, and unrecognisable as a piece by the guy who recorded Here Come the Warm Jets. It took me decades to recognise and appreciate its brilliance.
I just discovered you can turn off windowing in iPas OS 26 and have everything full-screen again, the way God intended. Apple have got the windowing thing massively, horribly wrong. It’s a total UX trainwreck and Steve Jobs would have fired the whole team. Does nobody ever ask “What would Steve do?”
October 13, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I just discovered you can turn off windowing in iPas OS 26 and have everything full-screen again, the way God intended. Apple have got the windowing thing massively, horribly wrong. It’s a total UX trainwreck and Steve Jobs would have fired the whole team. Does nobody ever ask “What would Steve do?”
Oooh, more live Bonzos that I'd never seen before - a truly epic "Canyons of Your Mind" from 1969. Featuring an even worse version of Neil Innes' already worst guitar solo of all time. Practice man, practice.
youtu.be/FClubknzYWY?...
youtu.be/FClubknzYWY?...
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - Bilzen Jazz Festival (August 22, 1969)
YouTube video by Erma Bombthreat
youtu.be
October 13, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Oooh, more live Bonzos that I'd never seen before - a truly epic "Canyons of Your Mind" from 1969. Featuring an even worse version of Neil Innes' already worst guitar solo of all time. Practice man, practice.
youtu.be/FClubknzYWY?...
youtu.be/FClubknzYWY?...
It's true, bats are simultaneously cute and FULL-ON BADASS!! Let's hope this doesn't trigger some batlash, peregrines do this sort of thing half a dozen times a day and are much loved
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Grisly recording reveals bat catching, killing and eating robin mid-flight
Before the Spanish study, some scientists had been sceptical about the mammals attacking migratory birds
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:39 PM
It's true, bats are simultaneously cute and FULL-ON BADASS!! Let's hope this doesn't trigger some batlash, peregrines do this sort of thing half a dozen times a day and are much loved
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Griff the USB microphone finally got his own device page (like a product page but he isn't a product), linked from the QR code on the revised Griff Mini PCB : www.pippyg.com/griff.html
October 6, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Griff the USB microphone finally got his own device page (like a product page but he isn't a product), linked from the QR code on the revised Griff Mini PCB : www.pippyg.com/griff.html
I’m too old and too male to be in the Rainbows, but as a result of some volunteering / educational outreach we did a couple of weeks ago on behalf of the @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social I am now the very proud owner of a Rainbows “Bat activity” patch. It is deeply excellent.
October 6, 2025 at 7:52 AM
I’m too old and too male to be in the Rainbows, but as a result of some volunteering / educational outreach we did a couple of weeks ago on behalf of the @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social I am now the very proud owner of a Rainbows “Bat activity” patch. It is deeply excellent.
Great day out at @nationaltrust.org.uk Lacock this week. Sunshine, apple trees heavy with fruit and Mistletoe, and the remarkable volunteer Naomi using forensic science skills to preserve historic floor tiles. Plus a DAZZLING early colour (Devin Tricolor) photo exhibition.
October 5, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Great day out at @nationaltrust.org.uk Lacock this week. Sunshine, apple trees heavy with fruit and Mistletoe, and the remarkable volunteer Naomi using forensic science skills to preserve historic floor tiles. Plus a DAZZLING early colour (Devin Tricolor) photo exhibition.
Kestrel keeping a wary eye on us this afternoon. Eventually it ran out of power poles and shot off.
October 4, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Kestrel keeping a wary eye on us this afternoon. Eventually it ran out of power poles and shot off.
Ooh ooh ooh - TK Maxx in Swindon, a single pair of the most PERFECT wireless headphones for folks to use with Bat Detector on their iPhone. So anyone in the @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social needs to get a move on to secure them - I left them REALLY visible :)
October 3, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Ooh ooh ooh - TK Maxx in Swindon, a single pair of the most PERFECT wireless headphones for folks to use with Bat Detector on their iPhone. So anyone in the @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social needs to get a move on to secure them - I left them REALLY visible :)
There's now an Android option for iPhone-deprived people who want to go bat detecting with a Griff : play.google.com/store/apps/d...
Thank John Mears for this, not me. And don't contact me with Android problems, I have never in my life used an Android device, so I will be of zero help to you.
Thank John Mears for this, not me. And don't contact me with Android problems, I have never in my life used an Android device, so I will be of zero help to you.
BatGizmo - Apps on Google Play
BatGizmo is an app for displaying spectrograms of bat calls.
play.google.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:23 AM
There's now an Android option for iPhone-deprived people who want to go bat detecting with a Griff : play.google.com/store/apps/d...
Thank John Mears for this, not me. And don't contact me with Android problems, I have never in my life used an Android device, so I will be of zero help to you.
Thank John Mears for this, not me. And don't contact me with Android problems, I have never in my life used an Android device, so I will be of zero help to you.
A trip to Buscot Park yesterday, where they now allow photography in all rooms. I skipped snapping the Rembrandt - and it is a GOOD Rembrandt! - and made straight for the immense Briar Rose sequence by Burne-Jones, the most exquisite immersive art installation you ever saw. Photos by iPhone 16e.
September 25, 2025 at 7:55 AM
A trip to Buscot Park yesterday, where they now allow photography in all rooms. I skipped snapping the Rembrandt - and it is a GOOD Rembrandt! - and made straight for the immense Briar Rose sequence by Burne-Jones, the most exquisite immersive art installation you ever saw. Photos by iPhone 16e.
The revised user manual for Bat Detector - 2.4, the next release - has a new final page with a plea for decency from folks who enjoy using high-quaility, free software with zero profit motive. The app is free and has no nag screen, it tries to be as nice to you as possible, so please be nice back.
September 23, 2025 at 9:38 AM
The revised user manual for Bat Detector - 2.4, the next release - has a new final page with a plea for decency from folks who enjoy using high-quaility, free software with zero profit motive. The app is free and has no nag screen, it tries to be as nice to you as possible, so please be nice back.
Bat Detector 2.3 is now live on the App Store, featuring simultaneous saving of wavs and sonogram JPGs for rapid visual scanning of recordings taken on a bat walk. Grab it here : apps.apple.com/gb/app/bat-d...
Bat Detector
Simply connect an inexpensive ultrasonic USB microphone to your iPhone or iPad and open your ears up to the extraordinary world of bat acoustics.
Build a dedicated USB microphone for under £10 : ht...
apps.apple.com
September 22, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Bat Detector 2.3 is now live on the App Store, featuring simultaneous saving of wavs and sonogram JPGs for rapid visual scanning of recordings taken on a bat walk. Grab it here : apps.apple.com/gb/app/bat-d...
My iPad Air 3rd gen was just updated to iOS 26 - I have to for software dev reasons - and it has been reduced to sub-glacial pace. Progress, eh? Poor thing was dead snappy and now it permanently limps.
September 21, 2025 at 12:02 PM
My iPad Air 3rd gen was just updated to iOS 26 - I have to for software dev reasons - and it has been reduced to sub-glacial pace. Progress, eh? Poor thing was dead snappy and now it permanently limps.
Bat Detector v2.3 build 17 live on TestFlight. It creates sonograms as it captures wavs, so you can do a rapid visual scan of your recordings folder to see where the interesting stuff happened. Great for spotting Horseshoes that you missed due to noisy pips and crickets :) Images are from the app.
September 20, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Bat Detector v2.3 build 17 live on TestFlight. It creates sonograms as it captures wavs, so you can do a rapid visual scan of your recordings folder to see where the interesting stuff happened. Great for spotting Horseshoes that you missed due to noisy pips and crickets :) Images are from the app.
TestFlight link for bugfix candidate of Bat Detector version 2.3 build 10 : testflight.apple.com/join/M5R8kipW
Join the Bat Detector beta
Available on iOS
testflight.apple.com
September 19, 2025 at 3:37 PM
TestFlight link for bugfix candidate of Bat Detector version 2.3 build 10 : testflight.apple.com/join/M5R8kipW