Simon Barnard has now obtained a Level 3 class licence from Natural England to survey bats. This is a new addition to the Level 2 and Level 4 class licences for bats which he already holds. He is also a Registered Consultant on the Bat Low Impact class licence.

We are very pleased with Simon’s achievement. Not only has obtaining the Level 3 class licence added to his already extensive bat survey experience, but it has also been a very important addition to the in-house expertise that we are proud to have at Spalding Associates. Simon is now able to deploy even more specialist survey skills when carrying out bat assessments of sites for our clients. This only further enhances the quality of the bat assessments that we can undertake for nature conservation, planning and development and could save you time and money.

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Holding the Levels 2, 3 and 4 class licences means Simon can make use of all the survey techniques permitted under the class licence system. This includes advanced trapping methods using mist nets and harp traps with acoustic lures plus the standard methods of surveying bats using artificial light or an endoscope.

Among other things, achieving the Level 3 bat class licence has involved Simon taking a number of trips to Greece to volunteer catching and handling bats to assist with important research. In doing so he has gained a lot of experience and the research is uncovering more about which species of bat are found on the different Greek islands.