Any good courses for someone wanting to get into ecology?

[Vicki R]

Hello everyone

Dont know if you can help.
To cut a long story short I gained a 2:1 in Environmental Science back in 2003 went to work in the world of asbestos and occupational hygiene straight after uni for 4years, I now work for a local council in environmental protection (noise, odours, sewers you name it we end up looking at it) and have done for 3 years nearly. I have always had an interest in nature and the outside and would love to move into ecology. I paid to go on phase 1 habitat survey course last year which was really informative and useful, are there any specific courses out there that anyone would recommend as a starting point?
Aberystwyth university do a set of short courses that run over weekends under their lifelong learning scheme that seem quite good as you can build them up to gain a certificate in field ecology over time - ideal as I can fit them in with working full time so am thinking on doing that particularly as cost is going to be a factor and its going to build into an qualification. I did look at some other courses through distance learning but have discounted them after reading some comments in other posts.

Sorry for the long message any help/advice/guidance would be very greatly received.

Thanks

Vicki

[eekoh]

Basically anything which gets you practical survey experience will be useful.
Have a look on the Prospects website, there are a few MSc Biological Surveying courses which look pretty good and cover a variety of different survey techniques.
You could also look up the IEEM website and check out their workshops - a GCN survey course would be a good one to start with as it'll count towards getting your survey licence and this is just the right time of year for GCN work.

Local wildlife trust often do some really good workshops too so its worth a look to see whats on locally.

Good luck, ecology is a great job.

[Vicki R]

Hi thanks for the pointers.
I will have a look at the MSc courses and see what I can do via distance learning (cant really afford to go and do one full or part time), I know my botony is not great so will have a look on that front too. Thanks again

[cmullen]

Hi Vicki,

Field Studies Council courses are gererally really good, I did my MSc in Biological Recording (It is mostly dealing with field-survey skills) part-time with Birmingham Uni and the Field Studies Council, most of the main courses are based in Preston Montford Near Shrewsbury but you pick courses in areas you are interested in (botony, invertebrates, birds etc) and they can be based at any of their centres. You do 4 courses each year on standard skills (stats, biological recording stuff) which are 3 days long (fri evening to Sunday evening) and 3 on things you're interested in which are 4 days long (Fri evening to Monday evening). I managed to do it travelling down from Aberdeen while working full time! So it is possible but it eats up your holiday time unless your work allows you time off.

If you want any more info let me know.

Cheers
Caroline