There are no published lessons in this course yet.
Interested in bats? Working towards your bat licence? This 2 day course will cover many of the essential elements required to get a bat licence, as outlined in the Bat Worker’s Manual. This is an intensive introduction for future bat workers.
Course Description:
This introductory level 2 day course will be part classroom and part field based and will be taught by an experienced bat ecologist from Ecology Training UK.
Day 1- Bat Ecology And Conservation
- Bat species in the UK, their habitats and distributions
- Bat taxonomy and relationships to other mammals
- Bat biology including adaptations, life strategies, senses, physiological specialisations.
- Bat food and feeding, echolocation
- Bat seasons and diurnal rhythms including social behaviour, colony formation, roost sites, hibernation, maternity colonies.
- Bat conservation – threats to bats including habitat loss, loss of roosts, pesticides and persecution
- Bats and the law – legal status and licences
- Training for your bat license
- Bat ID in the hand (PowerPoint and bats/keys)
- Evening bat survey and use of basic detectors
Day 2 – Bat Survey Techniques
- Health and safety – in and around buildings, night work
- Bat droppings and other bat signs
- Assessing buildings – bat potential, bat signs, seasonal use (site visit)
- Case studies
- Bat activity surveys
- Emergence surveys
- Frequency of survey
- Looking at maps and aerials to assess foraging and commuting routes
- Presenting your findings
- Use of bat detectors and other equipment
Please note that in order to successfully apply for a bat licence you need to have a high level of survey experience and knowledge. This course aims to provide you with a good background knowledge of bats as you work towards your bat licence, but you will also need to put a lot of your own time and effort into achieving this.
Location:
The course will be held at St Lukes Church Rooms, 32 School Lane, Countess Wear, Exeter EX2 6LB. The Training Room is not far from the motorway so is easy to reach by car. There are also fairly frequent buses from the centre of Exeter, so arriving by public transport is a feasible option.
Venue directions are provided within your account ‘Courses’ tab after booking.
What to bring:
You will need to bring a packed lunch. Further details about appropriate equipment and clothing will be provided in a ‘what to bring’ list within your account ‘Courses’ tab after booking.
Timings:
On the first day the course will start at 10 am. In the evening we will meet for a meal (optional) and a bat survey that will finish during late evening (depending on sunset time). On the second day the course will commence at 9:30am and finish at around 4:00 pm.
“Jam packed with useful and interesting information for anyone starting a career in bat ecology”
“I really enjoyed learning about bat ecology and dealing with many different scenarios.”
“I have had a couple of replies from local consultancies and I am due to go out on some training surveys with them and hopefully get registered as a subcontractor if all goes well. Just wanted to say – thank you so much! I would never have had the confidence to go for it without the knowledge and encouragement that you have shared, and I’m really looking forward to attending more courses this spring and summer!”
“Thank you again for a fantastic course, I had a really great time learning more about our bats!!”
Booking for another person?
If you are purchasing a course/s on behalf of another person, please follow these steps to ensure they can access their course/s:
- Create a student account using the student’s (whoever will be taking the course) details and contact information or use their existing student account.
- Including the correct billing address and information for the payment method that was used.
- Leave us a note in the ‘additional information’ box to let us know it was purchased with another person’s debit/credit card.
- Make sure to pass on the Username and Password to the student so they can get started on learning. All their course materials will be available on their account.
Booking for multiple people?
If you are purchasing courses on behalf of multiple other people, follow these steps to ensure they can access their course/s:
- Create a student account under your own details and add the correct number of courses for all the students you are purchasing for. (Example: If three people need to take Mammal ID, add it to basket three times).
- Ask each student (person who you have purchased the course for) to create their own student account on our website with their own details.
- Once purchased, contact us directly to let us know the Names, student account Usernames and Email Addresses for each student you have bought for.
- We will contact each of them directly with directions on how to purchase the course free of charge once it has been paid for already.
If you have any problems with this process, please get in touch – [email protected] or 03301653024
