Last Month, over 40 colleagues from RSK Biocensus came together from across the UK to participate in a bat training event, hosted at Chester Zoo. This brilliant event was organised by our very own Emily Shaw, Principal Ecological Consultant at RSK Biocensus, who did an amazing job!
Held over two days, the training provided valuable experience for our bat survey teams, supporting and strengthening their core bat surveying expertise. Our ecologists spent time honing the skills needed to independently plan and carry out bat roost visual inspections of buildings, visual and ground assessments of tree roosts, and bat emergence/re-entry surveys.
The aim of the event was to ensure that the number of staff confident and competent to manage bat projects and lead surveys was increased. Additionally, the event aimed to inspire staff to start or continue their journey to achieving a bat licence, providing significant value to the company, especially for projects that require bat licensed surveyors.
We are committed to the training and professional development of all of our colleagues, and this event is a testament to the dedication of everyone at RSK Biocensus to improve their knowledge and ability to succeed at what they do.
Having more of our ecologists with a bat licence is a huge benefit to our ongoing and upcoming work, especially as we have a lot of upcoming projects this season that include large elements of bat-related work. We are always looking for bat ecologists to support with this, but ensuring that our own people are well-trained and supported in this specialism is fantastic, and is a huge part of our wider success.
With a large proportion of the attendees travelling from around the UK, it was an excellent chance for the teams to spend time together. Due to the widespread nature of the business, we do not usually have many chances to get so many of our colleagues in one place, so this opportunity was greatly welcome. This sentiment was echoed by many of the attendees who thoroughly enjoyed the experience, both in an educational and social aspect.
Throughout the two days, the training delivered a great balance of theory, practical application, and use technology. This included focused studies on the practicalities of bats in buildings, the different types of roosts encountered during surveys, and how these translate into real-world ecological assessments. Alongside the studies, the attendees were treated to fascinating practical workshops led by Gwen Dean, Paola Reason and Emily herself.
The training was a great opportunity for our colleagues to learn in an amazing environment, many of the attendees loved getting to spend time in the zoo itself, especially getting to visit the lemurs!
Upon his return from the training, David Rochefort, Consultant Ecologist, spoke about his experience: “The training event had a great range of information and speakers. My favourite part of the training was the interactive samples that had been bought in, and I loved that I got to have some experience with an endoscope for the first time, which was very useful.”
Ethan Luwaji-Constantine, Assistant Ecologist, also spoke about his experience at the event: “One of my highlights was the opportunity to explore an extensive reference collection of bat taxidermy specimens and droppings used for training and identification. One particularly memorable fact: droppings from the Lesser horseshoe bat smell remarkably similar to Bovril… thank you Paola Reason you have opened my eyes once more to the wonderful world of ecology. Two very productive days of training with plenty of practical takeaways to bring back into fieldwork and project delivery.”
Giving feedback after the event, Paola Reason, an experienced and expert bat ecologist herself and a Director at RSK Biocensus, praised Emily for the success of the event. She also gave a shout out to Gwen Dean, Jill Muirberry, Iveta Nikandrovaite and Tim Clark, who were all invaluable in the event running as smoothly as it did.
A huge well done to everyone involved in the event, and we hope that the success of this event will lead to even more experiences like this taking place in the future!