Overview

Course Outline:

This course is to provide future ecologists or environmental sector workers with the foundation they need to succeed in ecological roles. The course is broken into three sections including classroom time, practical experience and job application workshopping.

The practical will have guides on how to surveys and before and after briefs. The practical day will be recorded with follow up analysis of the bat survey. There will be talks from BCT and Froglife. More will be announced shortly. These will tie in with the elements of the theory course.

Dates:

Practical Training Day 1st of May (restricted numbers)

Online Practical Training: 15th of May.

Online Training (Practical Preparation) -17th April – 10am to 4pm – Online training in preparation for the practical focusing on Badgers, Newts and Bats. This will be online over zoom with the rest of the course available in the training gallery.

Online Full Theory Course: Currently available at any time with Q&A days.

Learning outcome:

After completing this course, you will successfully be able to identify the protected species in the UK and have a foundation knowledge that you can apply to an ecological role. The course covers the identification and survey techniques of the protected species of the UK which you may need to survey. This also includes legislation, licensing, reporting and mitigation. The final part of the course covers office work and personalised job assistance. The course finishes with a short assessment.

The practical part of the course will be putting some of your new skills into practice by using surveying techniques on the local fauna and habitat of forth valley. This will include bats, badger, and GCN but we will practice other techniques in the field. This will be a full day of activities.

The job workshop will include job application, how to apply for license and charterships, where to get experience, cv and interview preparation.

Background:

Ochil Ecological training has perfected a course that has been designed over two years. Our team is made up of three ecologist with over ten years’ experience and a PhD in bats. The team have first-hand experience with how hard it can be to get a job in ecology. We have collaborated to deliver you the course to help you get your foot in the door.

The course will be delivered by Ally and the practical element by Valentina with Kirsty support all roles. If you have any questions feel free to get in touch. We are excited to launch our course and help you get started.

We are conducting a practical training course as well with input from some local charities and seasoned ecologists. Due to restrictions the training weekend has been reduced to a day and numbers are restricted. However, we are currently digitising the course and the practical day training as well as more will be available from the 15th of May.

About Ochil Ecological Training:

Ochil ecological training has collaborated with ecologists and scientists with over ten years of experience and expertise. We want to provide you with one affordable course which will stand out on your cv and give you the best head start for a job in the ecology or environmental sector.

What will you learn?

Modules include:

  • Amphibians
  • Owls and Raptors
  • Reptiles
  • Mammals including bats
  • Office work – reporting, HSE, licensing.
  • Job preparation – cv, volunteer work, applications and interview preparation.
  • Fresh Water Species
  • Practical Surveying
  • Analysis (Bats) overview and reporting.

Practical Surveying:

  • Survey set up.
  • Demonstrations with badger, otter, watervole, squirrels, newts, reptiles, raptors and bats.
  • Post survey analysis.
  • Talks from BCT and Froglife (more to be announced.)
  • Reporting and Questions for NatureScot.

Time commitment:

Three-day course: 11am to 5pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday (without practical).

Two-day course 10am – 6pm Saturday to Sunday (without practical)

Practical: 1st May 2021. Bank holiday weekend.

Online training weekend (Theory Only)

June 18th – 20th – 11 am to 5pm (3 days – Friday to Sunday)

July 10th – 11th – 10am to 6pm (2 days – Saturday & Sunday)

August 14th – 15th – 10am to 6pm (2 days – Saturday & Sunday)

Where:

Online using Zoom Meetings

Practical Training Day: Muiravonside Country Park.

For more information, please email Ally on ochiltrainingenterprises@outlook.com