High Risk Activities Training

This is an ongoing and constantly adapting training project.

In 2020, we identified a significant lack of bat training opportunities in New Zealand and developed a High Risk Activities training course to help ecologists upskill in the 3.1 and 3.3 tree felling competencies: Acoustic surveys and Habitat Assessment.
This course has been refined over 5 years of focused high risk teaching and over a decade of bat ecology work and teaching. This is the first of its kind in NZ and by far the most popular.

We now provide this course in conjunction with Marc Choromanski of The Ecology Studio through our new focused training company Advanced Field Skills.

Mike and Marc are both DOC certified trainers and regularly contribute towards the development of bat training and ecology in NZ.

This is a 2 day training course combining desktop methods with in-the-field experience designed to leave trainees with the skills to assess habitat for potential bat roosts and to undertake acoustic surveys for bats for both tree felling and presence/absence surveys as part of the DOC tree felling protocols as they work towards competency.
We take you step-by-step through the process of conducting a full bat survey from desktop assessment and felling surveys through to post-felling checks and reporting, with full explanations of methods and obligations along the way. We also show you how to access and use key resources, how to collect and manage data in a logical and useful way, and provide access to our AFS Bat Cave drive full of useful resources like confirmed roost pictures, data templates, technological guides, thermal emergence videos, reference calls for analysis and much more.
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To find out more visit our BAT TRAINING page.

We also offer advice and services to help get you certified and confident to operate as an indepedent bat practitioner.