We ran a series of ecology training courses in 2013 details of which can be found below. We are also running a series of similar ecology training courses in 2020.
The course will cover basic wildlife legislation that protects our native fauna and flora as well as providing practical advice and information on what to do when discovering a wildlife crime. Practical scenario based sessions will help reinforce the classroom based theory. The course will be delivered by retired Police Wildlife Crime Officer Ian Guildford.
Great Crested Newts April 2013
The Great Crested Newt course covers an introduction to the legislation affecting great crested newts, species identification and ecology, survey planning, survey methods including opportunities to practice eDNA survey, netting,bottle trapping, and egg searching, undertaking Habitat Suitability Index assessments for great crested newt and great crested newt mitigation. The course will take place from 9.00am until 9.00pm.
dentification for Beginners – June 6th 2013The Grass ID course is a focused training day during which we will look at the structure of grasses and learn to understand the terminology used in keys. We will then go into how to ID the more common species. The course will involve both indoor and outdoor sessions.
Butterfly and Moth Identification – June 19th 2013
The course will involve learning about how to survey for butterflies and moths and introduce you to some of the common species. The course will be taught by local expert Dr. George Tordoff from Butterfly Conservation.
Fern Identification – July 9th 2013
The fern identification course will involve learning how to identify the more common ferns found in Wales. In addition, there will be an introduction to the biology and ecology of ferns. The course will be taught by Professor Barry Thomas of Aberystwyth University.
Japanese Knotweed Ecology and Control – September 11th 2013The Japanese Knotweed course will look at identifying the different types of knotweed found in Wales (hybrids, giant, etc) and will discuss the pros and cons of current available control strategies including new research and advances. The course will be taught by Sean Hathaway, a Japanese knotweed expert.
Peregrine Falcon: Ecology, Survey Methods and Mitigation – 19th May 2013
Bird Survey Techniques – 16th June 2013
The bird survey techniques course will look at the a range of different bird survey techniques including winter bird counts, roost counts, next box monitoring, vantage point surveys (for wind turbines) and breeding bird surveys. The course will be delivered by local expert Neville Davies.
Moorland and Acid Grassland Plants – 15th July 2013
The Moorland Plants course will provide an introduction to a range of commonly encountered moorland plants. Emphasis will be placed on using key characters to identify different species. At the end of the course participants will be able to recognise a range of moorland plants including heathers, grasses and other flowering plants that are common on Welsh moorland. The course will be delivered by Mark Duffell. The course will be entirely field-based.
Tree Survey and Inspection for Beginners 10th August 2013The course will provide basic level training in tree survey and inspection and is intended for people with limited arboricultural knowledge. Participants will learn how to identify obvious defects from ground level. The course will be taught by arboricultural expert Bettina Broadway-Mann.
The course is designed for professional or amateur bat surveyors who would like to learn or improve their bat call analysis skills. The course will cover the following topics: how bats use sound, an introduction to bat sound analysis software (analook, bat sound, batexplorer and kaleidoscope), recognising typical UK bat sound sonograms and building a call library. The course will be run by Acer Ecology staff. The course will be split over two days and will commence in the evening where participants will be taught how to undertake an evening bat survey, identify bat calls in the field and how to use different ultrasound equipment. During the second day participants will learn to analyse bat calls using different software. The course costs £50 per person and is run by Acer Ecology staff at our office in Cardiff Bay. It will run from 6.30 pm-9.30 pm on the first day and 9.30 am -1.00 pm the second day.
Bat Ecology and Conservation – 10th OctoberCourses are run by Acer Ecology’s professional ecologists or local experts who have a passion for the wildlife and environment around them.
Contact us on 029 2065 0331 or info@acerecology.co.uk to find out dates of our courses and how to enrol.
