Events, Activities & Volunteering opportunities

If you'd like to help bats from home, this could be for you. The Bat Conservation Trust are looking for volunteers to take calls from members of the public on the Volunteer Bat Care Helpline. 

When bats are found in need of assistance the BCT Helpline is the first port of call for advice. 

The training days are on the 21st, 23rd and 25th April and the deadline to apply is March 31st.

For further information and to apply, click here.

The Bat Conservation Trust has a range of different online training courses, webinars, talks and modules available, ideal for doing in your own time. 

See here for those currently available. 

If you're new to bats, this free beginners workshop is for you.

It's being run by the Bat Conservation Trust and will explore the wonderful world of bats! It covers which bats are in the UK, how they are surveyed, and how you can find these amazing animals in your local area. It will show you how to carry out your first bat count and ways in which you can continue to develop your skills. You will be introduced to the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP), and discover how to take part in the NBMP Sunset Survey. The training will be run by Parvathy Venugopal, Survey Officer for the NBMP.

You can book your place here.

The group is starting a new bat box monitoring project, but before we can monitor the boxes we need to get them hung in the woods.

We're looking for volunteers to help, there are 50 boxes to hang. You don't need to stay all day, any help will be appreciated.

Going forward there will be opportunities to help check the boxes for bats, which we plan on doing three times a year, starting from this May.

If you can spare some time, please email  

These sessions are now fully booked. 

If you missed the chance to sign up you can still fill in the form, but spaces may only become available if we have any cancellations.

If you’d like to brush up your endoscope skills by getting some practise and experience in their use, then this field day could be for you. It may be of particular interest to those of you working towards a licence.

Level 2, WML-CL18 licence holders will be leading an inspection of the trees at Doddington Place, which has many old, dead and dying trees with PRF.

Please complete the form and we’ll be in touch in due course.

Would you like to learn how to identify bats and take part in surveys for the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP)?

If so this Bat Conservation Trust training session is for you. 

It will give you an introduction to using a tuneable heterodyne bat detector and fundamental species identification skills, and enable you to participate in a UK-wide survey as part of the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP).

The focus is on the NBMP Waterway Survey, how to separate big bats and small bats, and on identification of pipistrelles and Daubenton's bat. This workshop is the perfect next step if you have attended the NBMP Beginner Level "Discover Your Local Bats" workshop.

This workshop will be run online via Zoom and led by Phillip Briggs, Monitoring Manager for the NBMP. It is an interactive workshop featuring videos, activities and quizzes, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

You can book your place here.

This Bat Conservation Trust training is a follow-on to the previous NBMP Level 1 Workshop, but is also standalone training for those with more experience.

If you are looking to develop your bat identification skills and are interested in understanding bat sounds, this workshop is for you. It will enable you to take part in surveys for the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP).

The workshop will equip you with species identification skills using a heterodyne bat detector in the field. The focus is on pipistrelles, noctule, serotine and Daubenton's bat as these illustrate a range of different bat sounds. The workshop will cover heterodyne detectors, training your "sonic memory", and breaking bat sounds down into four elements: repetition rate, rhythm, tonal quality, and pitch. You will learn how and why these elements vary between different species, and how to find the "peak frequency" using a heterodyne detector.

The training will include an overview of the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP), and you will learn how to take part in the NBMP Field Survey.

This workshop will be run online via Zoom and led by Philip Briggs, Monitoring Manager for the NBMP. This is an interactive workshop featuring videos, activities and quizzes, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

This training is being run by the Bat Conservation Trust and you can book your place here.

In celebration of International Bat Appreciation Day we are hosting a virtual screening of the award winning documentary film about bat conservation and women in science, The Invisible Mammal. 

It follows an all-woman team of biologists who set out to save bats from a deadly fungal disease. When the COVID-19 pandemic interrupts their work, they are sent down a path of discovery that illuminates the connections between bat conservation and the spread of infectious disease.

Members will receive an email with a link to register for the screening in due course. No special software is required to view the film and you can watch it on your PC or tablet.

 Click to see the trailer.

The group has been invited to have a stand at a bioblitz weekend that Wildwood Trust are running in late May.

If enough members are available to help man the stand we'll be able to attend on both days, but any help is appreciated and even one day will enable us to reach a new audience. It's a really easy job, chatting to members of the public about all things batty and with enough people to help you'll be able to have a look around at Wildwood and see the lovely animals, at no charge!

The event will be running from 10am to 4pm on the 23rd and 24th May. To show your interest, email  and let us know when you're available to help.

The Tonbridge and Malling Leisure Trust have laid on some bat walks for the local residents and invited the bat group to lead.  

If you'd like to help, please email

Members of the public can purchase tickets here.

N.B. This event is not organised by the bat group, please contact the T & M Leisure Trust if you have any questions about tickets.