Great Crested Newt Ecology and Surveying is a comprehensive introduction to the species, its ecology and how to survey for them. It is delivered as an online, self-study course.

Great Crested Newts are a UK-protected species, widespread across lowland England. They occupy a range of habitats, in rural, suburban and urban areas. Although they breed in ponds, they spend much of their life on land. As they are fully protected by the law, it is crucial that ecologists and land managers understand their ecology and how to survey for them as they are frequently encountered during developments and vegetation clearance. This course provides a good introduction for those wishing to work towards a Great Crested Newt Licence (experience also required).

Great Crested Newt Ecology and Surveying, Course Content:

This is an introductory level course suitable for those working in consultancy or conservation. The course will cover the following topics:

• Ecology and habitat requirements
• Newt identification
• Legislation and licences
• Survey techniques
  
• Habitat Suitability Index

At the end of the course, you will do a short quiz and if you get over 70% you will get a Certificate.

This course is two videos:

Part 1 covers Ecology, identification, legislation, threats, habitat management and diseases. Run time 1hr 34 mins.

Part 2 covers surveying for GCN including bottle trapping, netting, egg searching, torching, eDNA sampling and Habitat Suitability Index assessments. Run time 35 mins.

You will also be provided with the Great Crested Newt Conservation Handbook, the HSI instructions and Calculator and the Amphibian Habitat Management Handbook as handouts.

Here’s what our students are saying:

Very informative. Provides an excellent foundation for those who wish to further their knowledge and skills in GCN survey work.

Phillippa

The course was great! I really enjoyed it and it’s made me even more enthusiastic about becoming an ecologist and being able to do things like this full time. I’m really looking forward to hopefully being able to gain some practical experience this year to go alongside it

Rachel

I liked the ability to undertake the course at my own pace.

Naomi

A career change in your 40’s its quite a daunting prospect, and even though I had completed lots of self study, small courses and training- I knew there were likely a few gaps in my knowledge, so doing a full structured course made good sense. Whilst some of the content was quite familiar, I was surprised by just how big some of the knowledge gaps were – it really boosted my confidence studying the modules and realising why they were so important. It is a great course that I would recommend to anyone wanting to qualify in Conservation, and has certainly helped me in my new career working as part of a landscape recovery project team

Bill Bradshaw

Useful links, detailed information, great supporting photos

Claire

Flexibility and easy to follow layout.

Michael

I liked the course, it was very comprehensive. I’m surprised how much I enjoyed the online elements of the course, I thought I would do better in a face to face course but honestly being able to go at my own pace is really working for me as I can spend time on the bits I find tricky as they come up rather than making a note to look things up later… I like the YouTube videos, being able to pause or even speed up the video to match my pace works well for me. I do feel like I learnt a lot. I would 100% recommend the course to others

SC

The material was concise and easy to understand; I loved the flexibility and ability to get the qualifications done at your own pace; and Sue was brilliant!

Deren

Very easy to understand and accessible

Sophie