Neil Middleton is the owner of BatAbility Courses & Tuition, a training organisation that delivers bat-related skills development to customers from throughout the UK and beyond. He has a constant appetite for self-development, as well as seeking to develop those around him, and to this end he has designed and delivered in excess of 200 training events covering a wide range of business and ecology-related subjects. Neil has had a strong interest in the natural world since childhood, particularly in relation to birds and mammals. He has studied bats for over 25 years, with a particular focus on their acoustic behaviour (echolocation and social calls). In 2014 he was the lead author of an important and well-received book about bat social calls, entitled Social Calls of the Bats of Britain and Ireland. Two years later he wrote The Effective Ecologist, which tackles the challenges facing ecologists, at all levels, as they endeavour to perform at the highest level within their working environment.