Level 1 Bat Licence Training Course

Venue: Lenwade (near Norwich), with field excursions around Norfolk

Duration: Two-day intensive course (includes a late evening on the first day)

Max no. attendees: 15

Cost: £695 per person (includes lunches, teas/coffees/snacks but not dinner or accommodation)

Course dates: we will be running Level 1 courses regularly between May and September 2024.

*Course bookings will open in March* – if you would like to be added to the course mailing list and notified when new course dates are released/bookings open, please click here.

Lead Tutor: Dr Charlotte (Lotty) Packman

The aim of this course is to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to utilise the Level 1 Bat Survey Class Licence (CL17) methods and practise their common applications. The Level 1 Course is designed to complement and strengthen your wider training and may be used to kick-start your bat training, as a ‘boost’ to your existing experience or to help you complete your training towards the Level 1 licence, filling in gaps and building skills and confidence.

The Level 1 licence permits the disturbance and surveying of bats by observation, including the use of artificial light (e.g. torches). The licence does not cover hibernating bats, use of an endoscope, any capture methods or handling of bats.

More information on the Level 1 Class Licence can be found here.

This course is ideal for those new to the world of bats and looking to gain new skills, as well as for those who already have a good basic knowledge of, and experience with, bats and are working towards their Level 1 licence.

• Carrying out bat roost inspections of buildings to assess roost potential/status and species present.
• Assessing and categorising the roost potential of trees.
• Conducting bat emergence/re-entry surveys (especially where there is potential to cause disturbance/the roost area will be entered).
• Collection of survey data contributing to European Protected Species (EPS) bat mitigation licence applications for development projects. NB substantial experience and additional references are required to support those wishing to be the Named Ecologist on EPS licence applications. EPS licence applications are not covered by this course.

• Describe the law relating to UK bats.
• Explain which actions can and cannot be carried out under the Level 1 Bat Survey Class Licence.
• Apply the Level 1 licence survey methods to safely and effectively plan and carry out:
• bat roost visual inspections of buildings (using artificial light)
• bat roost visual/ground assessments of trees
• bat emergence/re-entry surveys
• Identify roosting bat species.

The course focusses on the Level 1 ‘licensable activities’ (and the skills and knowledge needed to support these) i.e. observation of bats including the use of artificial light (torches). Therefore non-licensable activities such as acoustic surveys and analysis of sound recordings are not covered in this course.

• The UK bat species
• Legislation, conservation status & licensing
• Bat roosts
• Building inspections (inc. practical session)
• Assessing tree roost potential (inc. practical session)
• Emergence & re-entry surveys (inc. practical session)
• Using the Level 1 licence

Currently there are no standardised guidelines on experience criteria for a Level 1 licence. However, based on our experience training many ecological consultants, arborists, researchers, students, bat group members and volunteers, our expectations for those seeking a Level 1 licence reference are as listed above under the ‘Level 1 course learning outcomes’. We expect those participants who are seeking a reference/‘Course Completion Certificate’ to have completed at least one full season of regularly carrying out bat activities, including emergence/re-entry surveys, building inspections and using bat detectors, as evidenced in a training log book (digital or paper).

Licence reference (‘Course Completion Certificate’)

To meet the standard needed for a Level 1 licence, participants will need to have additional experience i.e. the course alone cannot provide all the experience you will need for your Level 1 licence (see above). Please note that provision of a ‘Course Completion Certificate’, which can be used in place of one reference for a licence application, is at the discretion of the course tutor and will only be provided if the tutor is fully satisfied that the participant has met the required standard, has passed the course assessment and following review of a satisfactory training log.

Following the course, all attendees will be provided with a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Certificate.

Our Principal Bat Ecologist Dr Charlotte (Lotty) Packman specialises in bat consultancy, research and training. Based in Norwich, Lotty holds Level 3 and 4 Bat Survey Class Licences, is a Registered Consultant for the Bat Mitigation Class Licence and Bats in Churches Class Licence and also holds individual bat project/research licences. Having led research at the University of Bristol on the management of bats in churches, Lotty now supervises MSc research projects on bats in the UK and abroad and has extensive experience with bat trapping and radio-tracking.

Lotty was an Assessor for the Natural England Bat Earned Recognition pilot scheme and a member of the Technical Review Panel for the updating of BCT’s Bat Surveys for Professional Ecologists – Good Practice Guidelines (4th edition). Lotty is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a Chartered Biologist.

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