Natural England Protected Species Licenses query

[Joel.W]

I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice on the process of getting licenses to work with protected species. I am recent graduate of zoology and conservation going onto an Msc in Conservation and Land Management, and i am interested in pursuing a career in ecology and the environment and many jobs look for candidates with natural england licenses, but i'm finding it difficult to find any information on how to go about getting them, the time involved and the application process. I noticed a course run by the IEEM on dormice that was said to be the first step in getting a license. Is this likely to be the case or are there other better ways of going about this. Thanks
Joel

[Brocakat]

Surely your Lecturers / Head of Dept. at your University from whence you've recently graduated?

[Harry Eales]

Joel,

Your best source of information will be your local area Natural England Office, the name changed from English Nature fairly recently, so if your using Yellow Pages to locate your area office look up both names.

I've always found this government department very helpfull, after all they are all naturalists, so your already preaching to the converted.

Provided you have a very good reason for wanting the licences there shouldn't be a problem. You may have to attend a course on handing whatever species you wish to work with, but they're generally a one day item.

Good Luck.

Harry

[Gill Catton]

There are quite a few courses that give you the leg up to get started with things like bats, dormice, great crested newts etc, these are often really good because they put you in touch with people who can help you get a bit further.

The next step usually is to volunteer and volunteer and volunteer again to show that you're seriously interested in the animal and looking to gain experience. Then usually you apply for the licence and get someone who already has a licence and has seen you work to sign it off to say you know your stuff.

In addition I'd recomend doing as much volunteering (specifically fieldwork) as much as you can in your free time (even it you're not training up for a licence)unless you're already pretty good of course, as the other thing employers will be hoping for is field skills - the ability to identify plants and or animals (or evidence of animals).

[Joel.W]

Thanks for your replies,

My lecturers are experts in very specific fields of zoology and none who i have spoken to knew of the process involved in getting a license.

I have tried to improve my knowledge by getting out in the field as much as possible lately, and feel i have a fairly good knowledge of British wildlife, but this could also be improved greatly. I have applied for several jobs and have written to many people this summer trying to get some survey experience but haven't really heard anything back. I have also joined my local mammal group and bat group so hopefully something will come up with one of those two organisations soon. I am finding it difficult to get in touch with people about getting experience, even volunteering is seeming quite difficult

Joel

[maccyd82]

Hiya,

Have you tried looking at the licensing application forms on the Natural England wbsite to get an idea of whats required for a science and conservation licence?

Natural England - Licensing application forms

You can get personal licenses to survey for great crested newts, dormice, bats, white clawed crayfish, barn owls (and otters and water voles in wales).

Most people normally go for the great crested newt licence first. You could go on an IEEM course, then volunteer on some surveys so you have the two people to sign you off. It would probably take a whole season of surveys.

Dormice slightly more difficult as it is harder to get handling experience needed to get signed off. If you go on a day course (they do then wildwood in kent and you can handle the mice) you should have one person to sign you off, then volunteer on the national nextbox monitoring scheme.

Bats - you need to work with a registered trainer for several years in order to get enough experience.

You could also volunteer on any national/county schemes to help get extra experience, eg the BTO atlas tetrads, water vole monitoring surveys, national bat monitoring scheme (bat conservation trust). You could try the local wildlife trust?

NBMP - Monitoring Bats - Bat Conservation Trust