Statutory guidance

Bats: survey licence for volunteer bat roost visitors - level 1 (CL15)

Updated 6 March 2024

Applies to England

Class licence CL15: to carry out Volunteer Bat Roost Visitor* (VBRV) activities for the purpose of conservation Level 1.

Overview

This licence permits registered Volunteer Bat Roost Visitors to undertake activities for the conservation of bats using artificial light (for example, torches), endoscopes, hand and static hand-held nets. This licence may only be relied upon when undertaking official duties as a VBRV, under Natural England’s bat advice contract, when activities are carried out for conservation purposes. Users must comply with licence terms and conditions at all times. This licence does not permit surveying hibernation sites or surveys to inform development proposals.

This licence is Level 1.

To provide training to unlicensed Volunteer Bat Roost Visitors under a VBRV licence a Level 2 licence is required (see Information and Advice note a).

Registration: anyone wishing to use this licence who does not currently hold a personal VBRV licence must first apply to Natural England to be registered.

Recording and reporting: there are data recording and reporting requirements.

Reference: WML-CL15.

Legislation

Statute(s):

• Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended) (‘the Habitats Regulations’)
• Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) (‘the 1981 Act’)

Section(s) This licence is issued under section 16(3)(a) and section 16(5) of the 1981 Act and under regulation 55(2) (a) of the Habitats Regulations.

Licence terms and conditions

Valid for the period: 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 (inclusive).

Area valid in: All counties of England (landward of the mean low water mark).

Purpose(s) for which this licence is issued: This licence can only be used for conservation.

What this licence permits

Subject to all the terms and conditions of this licence and solely for the purpose stated above, this licence permits Registered Persons and their Assistants to:

i. Disturb bats (all species) (Chiroptera), and

ii. Take and/or capture bats (all species) (Chiroptera) by means of:

• artificial light (eg torches)
• endoscopes
• hand, and
• static hand-held nets

while undertaking official duties as a VBRV.

Who can use this licence

This licence can only be used by Registered Persons* and their Assistants* except those convicted on or after 1 January 2010 of a wildlife crime* unless, in respect of that offence, either:

• they are a rehabilitated person for the purposes of the Rehabilitation and their conviction is treated as spent, or
• a court has made an order discharging them absolutely

Any application by a person to whom this exclusion applies for an individual licence will be considered on its merits.

*: see Definitions

Definitions used in this licence

“Volunteer Bat Roost Visitor” is a trained, experienced volunteer who agrees to visit bat roosts to provide advice to the general public to try and secure a favourable outcome for bats. They must also be registered as a Natural England volunteer and may volunteer for Natural England.

“Registered Person” is a person who has successfully registered to use this licence in accordance with Condition 6.

“Assistant” is a person assisting a Registered Person in accordance with Condition 6. For the purpose of this licence Assistants only include registered trainee VBRVs, who are actively training for their licence with the support of a licensed trainer.

“Wildlife crime” means any offence under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, the Deer Act 1991, the Hunting Act 2004, the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996, the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the Protection of Animals Act 1911 (all as amended) or the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019.

Licence conditions

1. This licence may only be relied upon during the conduct of official duties as a VBRV (see Information and Advice note a).

2. Persons acting under this licence must abide by the most up to date iterations of the relevant species guidance. In this context the relevant species guidance includes:
   
   a) The advice within the Bat Workers Manual (see Information and Advice note b), and
   
   b) The Bat Mitigation Guidelines (see Information and Advice note b)
   
   
3. All bats taken under this licence must be liberated at the site of capture immediately after examination unless specific permission has been granted by Natural England to do otherwise.
   
   
4. The licensee may disturb but not handle hibernating bats.
   
   
5. All relevant animal welfare legislation must be complied with at all times, including the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (see Information and Advice note f).
   
   
6. To use this licence you must:
   
   a) Be a registered Natural England Volunteer Bat Roost Visitor who has registered to use this licence (see Information and Advice notes g - l ), and
   
   b) Be registered with Natural England as a volunteer, or
   
   c) Be authorised by a Registered Person to act as an assistant (see Information and Advice note i), in which case you may act under the authority of this licence so long as you are doing so under the direct supervision of a Registered Person.
   
   
7. The Registered Person is responsible for all activities carried out under this licence, including activities carried out by their assistants.
   
   
8. Whilst engaged in work permitted by this licence all persons registered or authorised to act under licence must have access to a copy of this licence and produce it to any police officer or any Natural England officer on demand.
   
   Recording and reporting requirements
   
   
9. The Registered Person must return their bat roost report forms to their Bat Advice Contractor, in accordance with the requirements of Annex A. Records are to be made available for inspection at any reasonable time by Natural England.
   
   
10. The Registered Person must comply with the annual registration reporting requirements specified in Annex A. The report of action must be submitted to Natural England Wildlife Licensing for the period from and including 1 June 2023 to 31 October 2024 by no later than 30 November 2024.
    
    
11. If Conditions 9 and 10 are not met then the Registered Person will, by default, no longer be considered registered to act under this licence.

Important

This licence authorises acts that would otherwise be offences under the legislation referred to above. Failure to comply with its terms and conditions:

i. may be an offence against the Habitats Regulations 2017 or the 1981 Act, or mean that the licence cannot be relied upon and an offence could therefore be committed. The maximum penalty available for an offence under the Habitats Regulations 2017 or 1981 Act is, at the time of the issue of this licence, an unlimited fine and/or a six month custodial sentence

ii. may result in your permission to use this licence being withdrawn. Natural England will inform any person or organisation whose permission to use this licence is withdrawn in writing. This sanction may be applied to other similar licences, and

iii. may mean that you are not able to rely on this licence as a defence in respect to the prohibitions within the Animal Welfare Act 2006 or the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Breaching a condition of a licence issued under the 1981 Act is not in itself an offence but doing so may mean that the licence cannot be relied upon and an offence could therefore be committed. If the activity that you wish to undertake is not covered by this licence, or if you are unable to comply with any of the terms and conditions which apply to the use of this licence, then you will need to apply to Natural England for an individual licence. This licence is not a consent for the purposes of Part II of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) in respect to SSSIs. It is your responsibility to get consent or assent if required before this licence can be used on any SSSI. See Advice (r - t) for further information.

Issued by and on behalf of Natural England on 1 January 2024.

Information and advice specific to this licence

COVID-19 

You should stay at least 2 metres from live, wild mammals to avoid passing COVID-19 to them. Only capture or handle live wild mammals if necessary and avoid going within 2 metres of known breeding sites or regularly used resting sites.  

If you cannot follow these guidelines, then you should:  

• minimise the time spent in close proximity and handling mammals 
• limit the number of people that come into close proximity or handle mammals 
• keep animals separate from other individuals as far as possible 

Under this licence, you should follow good hygiene practices, including:  

• wearing disposable gloves, or clean and disinfected non-disposable gloves 
• wearing a face covering when handling and close to any mammal 
• washing hands before and after being close to or handling mammals  

Face coverings, non-disposable gloves and overalls or other clothing should be washed or disinfected between uses when handling mammals.  

You should not carry out activities under this licence if you feel unwell, test positive for COVID-19 or live with someone who has, or might have COVID-19.  

Any products used to clean and disinfect equipment should be safe to use should there be contact with animals and must be used at an effective and safe dilution rate. ‘Safe4’ is an appropriate disinfectant and is considered effective against the virus at a dilution of 1:50. Other products can be used to clean and disinfect equipment.

Level 1 and Level 2 VBRV class licences

a. There are 2 VBRV class licences. These differ in the activities permitted: Level 1 (WML-CL15) permits a Registered Person (and their Assistant) to undertake certain activities. This is the Level 1 licence.

Level 2 licence (WML-CL16) additionally permits the Registered Person to train unlicensed VBRVs. To register to use the Level 2 licence, you require evidence to show you have attended a Natural England and Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) ‘Bat trainer’s’ course and will need to apply to Natural England.

Guidance on surveying

b. The Bat Workers Manual is available from the JNCC website. More general advice is available on GOV.UK. You will be expected to check whether this guidance has been updated and if so, to ensure that you act in accordance with the most up to date version.

Relevant legislation and good practice

c. A licence is not required for the short-term keeping of injured bats that were obtained legally for the purpose of tending them in order to release them when no longer disabled. However, if the bats are to be kept for longer than six months then the carer should apply for a licence to possess bats. This can be done using the possession licence application form (WML-A37).

d. Natural England recommends that anyone handling bats wears gloves and is suitably vaccinated against rabies.

e. Persons acting under this licence may photograph bats in connection with licensed work provided that this causes no additional disturbance.

f. Persons acting under a licence should have regard to legislation and good practice relevant to the action(s) undertaken, including animal welfare and the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (2006 Act). It is an offence to cause any unnecessary suffering to an animal (including birds) under the control of man (section 4 of the 2006 Act). This applies to the humane dispatch of captured animals and the treatment of animals held in traps or nets, including decoy birds and non-target animals. The application of Animal Welfare Act 2006 to wildlife management activities is explained in Natural England leaflet Wildlife Management Advice Note: The Animal Welfare Act 2006: what it means for wildlife (WML-GU02).

Registering to use this licence

g. Only Registered Persons, or persons authorised or supervised by a Registered Person (see Condition 6), may act under this licence. Anyone seeking to become a Registered Person must apply to Natural England. You can register online to use this licence. Alternatively applications can be submitted by email or post (contact details below). Applications require supporting evidence (including references) indicating appropriate knowledge and experience of the species covered by this licence and the management techniques permitted (see Reference guidance). Applications require evidence that they have attended and successfully completed a Natural England/BCT ‘Bat trainer’s’ course.

h. Once registered, a person is entitled to use this licence so long as they satisfy the licence’s terms and conditions; annual re-registration is not required. Failure to comply by the terms and conditions, including the recording and reporting requirements, will, by default, render registration null and void. The annual reporting process is used to verify a person’s desire to remain registered.

i. It is the responsibility of Registered Persons to maintain their expertise at an appropriate level to act under this licence and it is also their responsibility to ensure that Assistants have appropriate training, experience and instruction, including on mitigation measures commonly employed, to act under this licence.

j. Anyone seeking to confirm whether a person is registered to use this licence should contact Natural England Wildlife Licensing (contact details below).

k. A person’s registration may be revoked by Natural England, for example, if that person breaches the conditions of this licence. In these circumstances Natural England will normally give 28 days’ notice of our intention to revoke a person’s registration.

l. Registration to use this licence to disturb or capture bats indicates that the licensee has demonstrated an appropriate level of competence in these activities. The licence should not be used or taken to indicate competence in any other activity that may be associated with work on bats and is not to be used by those undertaking scientific recording including surveys to inform development proposals, National Bat Monitoring Programme, bat box checks or hibernation surveys etc. To register to use our Bat Class Survey Licences you will need to apply to Natural England: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bat-licences.

Information and advice for all class and general licences

General information

m. Natural England checks compliance with licences and the attached conditions. Where breaches are identified, these may be subject to enforcement action.

n. Ordinarily, licences will be reissued on 1 January each year (NB you do not need to re-register for those with registration requirements). Please note, however, that they can be modified or revoked at any time by Natural England or the Secretary of State, but this will not be done unless there are good reasons for doing so. You are advised to check the terms and conditions of a licence prior to your first use of it each year in case of amendments.

The limits of licences

o. Licences permit action only for the purposes specified on that licence.

p. Licences do not permit actions prohibited under any other legislation, nor do they confer any right of entry upon land.

q. Unless otherwise stated the provisions of Natural England licences only apply landward of the mean low water mark in England. The Marine Management Organisation is responsible for all licensing seaward of the mean low water mark.

Protected sites

r. You can search for and view details about all SSSIs by using Natural England’s Designated Sites system. The notification documents for each SSSI contain a list of operations that require Natural England’s prior consent.

Owners and occupiers of land notified as SSSIs are required to give written notice to Natural England before either beginning any of these operations, or allowing someone else to carry out those operations. SSSI consent can only be given to a SSSI owner or occupier. It may be given with or without conditions, or in some cases, consent may not be granted. A similar process applies to public bodies and statutory undertakers (as defined under Section 28G of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended)) and this obligation applies even where the operations are carried out on land outside of the SSSI.

s. Please note that as the licensee you will not be able to undertake the licensed activity on a SSSI until the owner or occupier of the SSSI has applied for, and received, Natural England’s written SSSI consent. If you do so, you may be at risk of committing an offence. As the licensee, if you wish to exercise this licence on a SSSI you must contact the relevant owners or occupiers of the SSSI and ensure they give written notice to Natural England of their proposal to permit you to carry out licensed activity on their SSSI. You should wait until a SSSI consent decision has been received by the SSSI owner/occupier before you begin to exercise this licence on a SSSI. See GOV.UK for further information on how to get SSSI consent from Natural England.

t. In considering whether to issue consent or assent for activities likely to affect a SSSI that is a European site, in other words a Special Protection Area (SPA) or Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Natural England will carry out a Habitats Regulations Assessment, as required by the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended) (‘the Habitats Regulations’) to ensure there will be no adverse effects on the European site.

Using and sharing your information

u. There is significant public interest in wildlife licensing and in those who benefit from receiving a wildlife licence. We may make information publicly available, for more information, please see our privacy notice.

Contact Natural England for licensing enquiries

Telephone: 020 802 61089

Email: wildlife.scicons@naturalengland.org.uk

Wildlife Licensing, Operations Delivery
Natural England
Horizon House
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AH

For other enquiries use the Enquiry Service

Telephone: 0300 060 3900

Email: enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk

Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

ANNEX A - Recording and reporting requirements

VBRV reports

All VBRV reports must be sent to the Bat Advice Contractor in accordance with the bat advice contract requirements (within one month of the final visit to a site unless the case is urgent). It is important that all sections of the report form are completed. These report forms do not need to be sent separately to Natural England.

Records

Each Registered Person shall maintain a record, which must be kept for at least 24 months beyond the expiry date of this licence, of the following information from each visit undertaken in the capacity as a VBRV:

• date visit undertaken
• reference number for each bat advice letter or VBRV report eport
• number and species of bats taken or released each time
• method used
• 8-figure grid reference (minimum) and county
• details of any accidental bat deaths or injuries, whilst using this licence

If VBRV reports are fully completed we may be able to remove the requirement to maintain separate records in the future.

Maintaining registration to use this licence

Registered VBRVs are required to submit a report of action to Natural England on an annual basis giving details for each site that the licence was used. This form will be used to renew your registration. If you fail to do this, you’re no longer registered to act under the licence. The report of action template (LR-CL15-16) and application forms are available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bats-report-action-taken-under-a-volunteer-bat-roost-visitor-licence. You must return a report of action taken under a VBRV licence form (LR-CL15-16) no later than 30 November 2024, even if you’ve taken no action.

WML-CL15 [version January 2024].