Spring into Action Day
The next event will be held on 2nd March 2024 at the Stirling Court Hotel (at the Stirling University Campus).
*Booking are now open* - please follow this link: https://bats.sym-online.com/re...
Ticket prices are £40 per attendee, reduced to £35 for BCT Members.
Please find details about how to find the venue here on the Stirling Court Hotel Website.
This is an in-person day for anyone interested in bat conservation. It offers attendees an opportunity to learn new practical skills, improve on their existing ones and to meet other bat enthusiasts. A wide range of workshops are offered, to suit beginners to bat work and those with more experience.
Three parallel 90 minute workshop sessions (A, B, and C) will be run through three sessions during the day, so each participant can chose altogether three workshops from the programme, one each from Session A, B and C. Due to limited workshop capacity, the workshops need to be booked in advanced with earlier bookings getting priority.
Lunch will be provided and the programme will include coffee breaks.
The 2024 workshop programme will include workshops on bat identification, licensing by NatureScot, bat care, biosecurity and many other relevant topics:
The 2024 workshop programme will include the following topics:
09:00 Registration
09:30 Welcome & Housekeeping
09: 45 Session A Workshops:
- Mist Netting and Harp Trapping (Emilie Wadsworth)
This workshop will go through the theory and practice of using mitt nets and harp traps to catch bats. There will be an opportunity to set up both types of traps and take them down (no bats will be trapped during the training session). Part of this workshop may be run in the outdoors, so please wear suitable warm and weatherproof clothing and footwear.
This workshop is suitable for all, from beginners to advanced bat workers.
- Bat ID - Bat Identification Workshop (John Haddow)
- How to Run a Bat Walk (Cathryn Baillie)
This workshop will go through the tings to consider when planning, preparing and running a bat walk.
This workshop is suitable for all, from beginners to advanced bat workers.
11:15 Tea & Coffee
11:30 Session B Workshops:
- Bat Licensing: Nature Scot Workshop on bat licenses (Kevin Giles)
This workshop provides and overview of bat licensing in Scotland, touching on all types of licenses. There will be opportunities to ask your licensing questions whether you are at the start of your bat skills development or an experienced bat surveyor planning specific projects.
This workshop is suitable for all, from beginners to advanced bat workers.
- Biosecurity and bats: effective disease risk management (Allyson Walsh)
Biosecurity in relation to activities with bats, such as field work or bat care, is all about having procedures and measures in place to protect people and to protect bats from harmful pathogens. This workshop will be a mixture of interactive presentation and discussion, providing an overview of the current guidance in relation to rabies, SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and white-nose syndrome as well as considering generic good practice in disease risk management when working with bats.
This workshop is suitable for all, from beginners to advanced bat workers.
- Tree Surveys for Bats (Gwen Dean)
In this workshops participants will learn about tree roosts, including how to survey and assess these. The workshop will be both classroom based and have an outdoor element, so make sure you wear appropriate warm and weatherproof clothing and shoes.
This workshop is suitable for all, from beginners to advanced bat workers.
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Session C Workshops:
- Mitigation Examples (Beccy Osborn)
In this workshop participants will learn about various examples of mitigation for bats in a planning context. The workshop is mainly aimed at consultants, but open to all levels of experience, from beginners to advanced bat workers.
- An Introduction to Bat Care (Tracey Jolliffe)
This workshop is a brief introduction to first aid and care of sick or injured British bats. Attendees will gain some basic knowledge of what bat care entails, and how the BCT registers works.
This workshop is suitable for all, from beginners to advanced bat workers.
- Using your Ears (Mhairi Mackintosh)
Using Your Ears is one of the National Bat Monitoring Project (NBMP) workshops. Participants will learn how to use a heterodyne bat detector to identify different species of bats.
This workshop is suitable for all, from beginners to advanced bat workers and is aimed at current and future participants of the NBMP surveys (including Field Surveys and Waterways Survey).
15:30 Round Up
15:45 Tea & Coffee
16:00 Close
Sponsors and Exhibitors
We are grateful to our event sponsor Wildlife Acoustics for their support.
We also have Titley Scientific exhibiting at this event.
Related content