Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 28/08/2026In the absence of immediate action with an environmental / socialist / anti tech bro / anti big corporations agenda he's just the last guy, but with better eyebrow grooming. And his entire party needs to better understand rural Britain - this is not Manchester. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comBurnham electrified the Labour party by talking about electoral reform – now he needs to act on it | Polly ToynbeeThe prime minister has lifted the spirits of the public and party members, and must use that goodwill to push through change, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Brown Long Eared bats are notoriously quiet. This one must have been flying right by my head as I brought my pippyg in last night - on the left of zoomed-out pic, REALLY LOUD bat; on the right my feet crunching on gravel as I bring in the pippyg. Zoomed in view shows wild and crazy harmonics. 100
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 26/08/2026pippyg version 2.1 now on TestFlight : if it breaks anything, let me know :) testflight.apple.com/join/EtuYyWjjtestflight.apple.comJoin the pipistrelle betaAvailable on iOS 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 26/08/2026New look and new name for "pipistrelle" iPhone app. Next release will be renamed "pippyg" to reflect the obsolescence of original pipistrelle detectors. New "BAT filter" / BATS" modes which selectively apply strong high-pass filtering in bat mode, suppressing speech and bird call bycatch. 142
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 25/08/2026I just pushed up a new build of pipistrelle (which I REALLY need to rename to "pippyg") that pushes out the chirp twice in rapid succession, so if your device doesn't hear the first one or drops a bit and fails CRC, it should be fine with the second. testflight.apple.com/join/EtuYyWjjtestflight.apple.comJoin the pipistrelle betaAvailable on iOS 100
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 25/08/2026New pippyg firmware to make chirping more immune to environmental noise. Big test - can a PYG hear a chirp if those pesky Ramones are turned up loud and Blitzkrieg Bopping an inch and a half from the microphone? Yes!! We are indeed totally immune to the sonic charms of the Forest Hills Four. 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Has it taken The Guardian this long to work this out? www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...theguardian.comBetrayal by Luke Harding review – could Donald Trump be a Russian asset?A Guardian correspondent’s sobering account of the US betrayal of Ukraine – and the possible reasons behind it 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 23/08/2026If you have built your own pippyg static bat detectors you might want to try out this new firmware. It makes chirping much more reliable in the presence of noise and interference. No changes to the chirping app, just the firmware. drive.google.com/file/d/1xdqS...drive.google.compippyg-v10-23-08-26.uf2 241
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 15/08/2026I think this is the closest I've ever seen a Kestrel to the house - in the top of a tree in next door's garden. 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 08/08/2026OK, some people may have not read the memo about the need for an external microphone, but I like to think that out there in bat land more than 15,000 people are enjoying simultaneous heterodyne detection, time expansion and 384kHz recording, all for free. @batconservation.bsky.social 030
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 06/08/20263 B1 bombers passed over our house about 7.30 pm, heading East. Which is where Iran is. So something's up, will read tomorrow's papers with interest. 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Joey Ramone's weirdest vocal. And that's saying something. He seems to have swallowed a Dalek. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDJy...youtube.comI Don't Care (Demo) (2016 Remaster)YouTube video by Ramones - Topic 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Newark Park’s bats and toads and moths and bees as delightful as ever this week. Plus a GREAT cream tea! @nationaltrust.org.uk @batconservation.bsky.social 081
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 24/07/2026Bat Synth 1.2 is "In Review" with Apple. Hopefully by tomorrow it will have passed review and you will all be able to program up your own bat echolocation and social calls. apps.apple.com/gb/app/bat-s...apps.apple.comBat Synth App - App StoreDownload Bat Synth by Phil Atkin on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips and more games like Bat Synth. 010
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 22/07/2026New Bat Detector user manual - this is actually included in the app but people have trouble finding it :) drive.google.com/file/d/1PVgQ...drive.google.comBatDetector.pdf 020
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 22/07/2026LOVELY little toad in the woods yesterday, and a cracking illustration of the colour sensitivity differences between iPhone SE 2 and iPhone 16e. And I’ve already warmed up the SE photo. 010
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 22/07/2026There is a new build of Bat Synth on TestFlight that allows you to program your own bat calls. Now I need to document the process, or to make my life easier, just dump a handful of files for you all to look at. Bat Synth 110
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 19/07/2026So, this moth - Dewick's Plusia - was just in our kitchen. According to this (www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/macd...) it's EXTREMELY rare. If so, cool! I let it out because everything that comes in is dying very quickly of dehydration in this weather. 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Here's foxy chowing down on the vole dinner - you can see him do the gulp / swallow. 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 15/07/2026A long walk around the village a) to escape the dissonances of the church bells next door and b) because it was a lovely evening. Two foxes, one of them just 50 yards from the farmer who was baling up the hay. Foxy was vacuuming up the voles. Middle picture - vole in jaws. 010
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Count Binface not only has a great chance but has some truly great policies, particularly around ice cream pricing. He's my kind of guy - come on good folks of Clacton, all you need to do is go out of the house for 10 minutes and stick an X on a piece of paper to unseat old Frog Face. 020
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 26/06/2026There’s a new Bat Detector on Testflight with an implementation of “Instant Replay”. If you’re recording you can swipe left and right in the big sonogram window to load up the 32 most recently recorded 5 second files. So a “what the heck was THAT?!” moment can be pulled up to listen to it on loop. 120
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 18/06/2026Mullein Moth caterpillar today. Lesser Stag Beetle and Thick-Legged Flower Beetle yesterday. And suddenly, tons of Meadow Brown butterfiles. 010
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 17/06/2026I sincerely hope England don't make the final, because I have sworn to not watching a second of this Trump World Cup. So they'd better not put me under such unbearable pressure. 120
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 15/06/2026This cessation of hostilities in Iran seems serious, a SHEDLOAD of B-52s and B-1s have been flying West over our house today. West being the opposite direction to Iran. 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 15/06/2026TINY pipistrelle nano - this is my new favourite thing I've ever designed. 10 minute build time, £10 build cost, operates as handheld bat detector or 384kHz USB microphone. Single red LED responds to ultrasound, component list rationalized. This prototype has no on-off switch, real devices do. 110
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Two episodes into Alice and Steve and it's getting really painful ... 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Rest in Peace the mighty and recently-deceased EAGLE CAD. Without you my bat detecting babies would never have existed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EAGLE_(...en.wikipedia.orgEAGLE (program) - Wikipedia 120
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Frothy coffee at the Donkey Sanctuary. They are intended to be donkey ears but for me they will always be Brown Long Eared Bats. 020
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 07/06/2026First ever Greater Horseshoe Bat tonight. Whoo hoo! 160
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 05/06/2026One of my 5 fave UK bands of all time, totally forgotten and ignored, finally get their picture in the paper. All hail the mighty Doctors of Madness :) www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...theguardian.com‘I knew it was over for us’: the bands who got left behind when punk explodedFifty years ago this week, the Sex Pistols played their first Manchester gig and caused a sonic revolution. What happened to the other bands that were tipped for big things that year – and why did the... 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 30/05/2026Here's the naturalist team at the Reni Pani Jungle Lodge just outside the Satpura Tiger reserve, with their collection of pipistrelle / pippyg detectors. The 5 pippygs are recording echolocation calls to populate the @btobirds.bsky.social BTO Acoustic Pipeline's "Bats In India" project. @batcon.org 060
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 28/05/2026I'm currently a bit obsessed with finding different videos of Rick Astley singing Highway to Hell :) youtu.be/5PUNx5TGj1Y?...youtu.beRick Astley | Highway to Hell (Live)YouTube video by Hassan Chávez 010
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 27/05/2026Revised website, hopefully an easier read for newcomers. Note the massive simplification of the UI for pip mini, but also note that you can still run in "Classic / Complex Mode" and do a @batconservation.bsky.social waterways survey locked to heterodyne/35kHz. www.pippyg.com/pipistrelle-...pippyg.comA quite incredible bat detector for under £20A quite incredible bat detector for under £20, featuring heterodyne and time expansion detection, which also doubles up as a 384kHz USB microphone 162
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 25/05/2026Quite the walk round the village, and I didn't even turn on Merlin until we were 20 minutes in. 110
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 24/05/2026... and a video www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EqC...youtube.comBats in the church yardYouTube video by Phil Atkin 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 24/05/2026Excellent batting last night - here's a simultaneous common pip, noctule and serotine. Captured on an ancient iPad plus a sub-£10 DIY ultrasonic microphone. 150
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 14/05/2026This record is a) WAY too expensive for me to buy, yet b) astonishing. The "Tracking Mixes" - 4 Ramones playing live in a studio with the tape machine running, no dubs - are so tight it's insane. That pre-Marky period mid 76 to late '77 , they were untouchable. music.apple.com/gb/album/roc...music.apple.comRocket to Russia (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) by Ramones on Apple MusicAlbum · 1977 · 77 Songs 100
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 08/05/2026Yesterday was Mayfly emergence day at Kelmscott Manor! 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 05/05/2026A piece on "Farming Today" this morning that mentions the work being done in Suffolk using Griff microphones that are being built in self-build workshops, enabling and democratizing citizen bat science at extremely low cost. @batconservation.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...bbc.co.ukFarming Today - 05/05/26 Ash tree propagation, clinical waste on beach, DIY bat monitoring - BBC SoundsA new growing technique which could help save the ash. 020
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 04/05/2026I don't often turn on Merlin on a round the village walk, but I'm glad I did today - it heard a Skylark that we missed. But it missed Ravens, Pheasants and the first Swifts of the year. They weren't screaming or anything, but heck - Swifts - it just should have known. 010
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 30/04/2026If you know a bat superstar, get nominating! In fact I probably should nominate Dr. Stuart Newson … 030
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 27/04/2026The Guardian’s spelling mistakes reach epic proportions as they woefully misspell “Trump’s corruption and cruel and illegal policies” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...theguardian.comAnti-Trump sentiment being examined as motive for White House press dinner shootingManifesto reportedly written by the suspect had Trump administration officials at top of list 000
Phil Atkin @ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social · 25/04/2026It’s the South West Bat Conference today, and Andy Avery is leading a workshop called “How to lead a Build your own Bat Detector workshop”. Meta or what? With more workshop leaders the self build bat detector movement could be on a roll after this, which would be GREAT! @batconservation.bsky.social 000