Testimonials

"During the early years, all our bat work was sub-contracted, as a company we struggled to get references to become bat licensed. After hearing of BLTC one of our Senior Ecologists went on the course, followed shortly by myself.

The course was amazing, it consolidated all the experience and knowledge gained and developed this understanding further. With Sandie and Richards help we gained the right knowledge and confidence to obtain our survey licences. Richard reviewed our first EPSL application, to make sure we were on the right track and EPSLs are now readily accepted by Natural England. We are currently applying for our LICL.

We went from a company sub-contracting out 100% of its bat work, to now completing all bat works in-house. The initial outlay for the course may seem costly but the high quality of the course content, long-term support and course delivery is outstanding, to the point where we have since put two further Ecologist on BLTC. BLTC was one of the best business decisions I have made. “

- Lyn Eccles-Sargeant, Director at Ecology Services Ltd. BLTC16 2013

I thoroughly recommend this training course – it is action packed and intensive, but Sandie and Richard always have time for you and you get to see unforgettable locations which are home to a lot of bat species.

Help and guidance is also given for accessing additional training opportunities. For me, it built on my confidence in bat identification and handling techniques. The highly supportive ethos continues afterwards back in the real world, due to the excellent exclusive online community.

- Anne Clements, BSc (Hons) CBiol MRSB, Company Director – BLTC 12

I’ve been running my own editorial, financial, and administrative company Subsidium for just over two years now after leaving Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and an eighteen-year career in environmental management. My first contract (and one which is ongoing) was to a local ecological consultancy as a bat report writer. I then progressed to going out on surveys to learn more and this led to the suggestion that I might want to consider some training as I discovered I really liked bats. I hesitantly (I’m not an ecologist and I have a fear of heights and spiders!) signed up for BLTC29; driving from the south to the north of Wales for the first course at Plas Tan y Bwlch in December 2017, and then to Folly Farm in May 2018 for the second part.

I have found the training extremely hard but immensely enjoyable and I can think of no other way that I could have learned so much and got as much hands-on experience. All of us on the course came from different backgrounds but everyone was lovely and Richard and Sandy make a formidable (but brilliant) team. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I attended the Advanced Bat Techniques Course in August 2018 as well and only wish I could attend a course every year to progress my skills further.

It’s really good to be able to continue the interaction via the online community as well as gaining practical experience in both a paid and voluntary capacity. My contract with the ecological consultancy started out as editorial support but now I am in a position where I am about to submit my bat licence application to NRW, and I am working on my second EPS application as a named assistant –I’m very sad, I actually enjoy the paperwork as I have some health challenges which limit physical activity! Finally, while courses are never a cheap option, I can honestly say that the courses I’ve been on with Richard and Sandie have been the best value for money out of any courses I have ever done (and I’ve done a lot).

- Ceri Daugherty BLTC29

Just a quick message to say I applied to Natural England using your reference along with my bat log and I have just received an email to say my application for Level 1 Bat Licence has been successful. I’m really looking forward to getting more experience in order to apply for my level 2 licence.

I thoroughly enjoyed the course, very glad I did it and would highly recommend it. You [Richard] and Sandie were fantastic and I always felt like I had ample support and was confident throughout due to the knowledge and experience of the tutors. Oh, and that I'm now licensed! 

- Rob Coles