Effective Camera Trapping +Erasmus+ (UCR)

This Effective Camera Trapping +Erasmus+ course is part of the Ambios Working4Wildlife training package and is offered in association with University Centre Reaseheath. You need to be a student of UCR to apply for this course. If you are not a student of UCR, please see this page of information

The course will enable you to explore how to become a more effective wildlife camera trapper, increasing your field skills, producing photos fit for purpose and enhancing your employability/continuing professional development. Unique to this course – Ambios Ltd lend you the equipment and guides you through 6-weeks of part time online distance learning before you have the option to continue practicing your skills on a 2-week, Erasmus+ funded visit to one of our European partners.

Many thanks to:

“I really enjoyed the course and feel it would enhance my CV and help with future job prospects. I believe it is another very important string on my bow.” SB (Student, Univ of Plymouth)

Introduction to 'Ambios Wildskills Camera Trapping Course' by Simon and Fraser from Ambios Ltd on Vimeo.

Why take this training?

There are lots of people looking for jobs in nature conservation and there are many employers saying job applicants lack practical field based survey skills. If you are doing, or have just done, a University degree or you are seeking to change career, then being able to demonstrate your practical skills in nature conservation to a future employer is essential. This 6-week part-time, practical on-line/live Effective Camera Trapping course is designed to help you. It now includes the option to practice your skills with one of our European partners.

Previous course participants have said:

“An informative and comprehensive course, giving you the necessary skills, information and equipment to become an effective camera trapper

The timings and layout of the course and webinars were perfect and it gave me enough time to complete tasks and submit images/videos.

The balance was great and I always found myself excited to learn more and engage with the content.

I loved the moodle space and was very easily navigated.”

L Cox, former student, UCR

What is camera trapping?

Camera trapping is now widely used in wildlife monitoring. It can determine if a particular species is present (with conservation or legal consequences) or it can be used to help with public engagement with nature. Ecological consultants might use camera traps to see if a protected species is on a given site, nature conservation charities might use the technology to show the public what species are around on a nature reserve and biological records centres and national species surveys welcome the species records for their datasets. Becoming an effective camera trapper means practicing nature detective field skills and getting to know how the technology works. The aim of this course is to encourage you to develop these skills ready for a new job or as part of your existing/future role.

Practicing your camera trapping abroad

Once you’ve completed the UK based element of the course (described above) you will have the option to join a team taking the camera traps abroad for 2-weeks. This is funded by Erasmus+ (and travel is subject to any Covid19 restrictions in place at the time). You don’t have to take part in the mobility, it is an optional extra.

Accompanied by a member of the Ambios team you will travel to either:

The Barn Owl Foundation in Hungary: More details and choose your preferred cohort dates here

or

Ambios Portugal: More details and choose your preferred cohort dates here

UK course dates and the equipment

The UK online course will run over 6 weeks (part time / 4 guided learning hours per week) from 11 January to 20 February 2021. You with be sent a camera with batteries, a mounting strap, SD card and instruction manual followed by a mounting bracket later on in the course.

You’ll then be given access to the Ambios Ltd online learning environment where we will support you with live online workshops and additional learning materials.

With a track record going back more than 20-years delivering nature conservation training courses, our experienced and supportive team empower participants to succeed.

Course content

We estimate you’ll need approximately 4 hours spread over each week to investigate the on-line learning materials and deploy/collect your camera trap. Each week start on Monday with the release of the learning and the tasks for that week. You’ll have until the following Monday to complete the tasks. The live seminars (@ 7pm on Wednesday of each week) are a chance to ask questions and explore more camera trapping methods. When you do the learning hours is entirely up to you. The course is designed to be flexible so that you can fit it around your current learning/work/family commitments.

Week 1 – Welcome, try your camera indoors. Try your camera outdoors (still photos)

Week 2 – From stills to video and back again

Week 3 – Field signs and best locations for camera trapping

Week 4 – Consolidating your skills and exploring more options

Week 5 – Special methods

Week 6 – Preparing to go abroad. Final Q&As

Using your camera trap

We’ll send you a camera trap (on loan) and a first set of batteries. We’ll then walk you through setup, positioning and results analysis via a series of activities. All this will be supported by access to on-line training materials and live training broadcasts. This is a part-time 6-week course, allowing you to take your time to gain competence with these specialist professional skills, ready for a new job or to enhance your existing employment through continuing professional development.

You’ll then be able to demonstrate their skills by contributing data to a citizen science project and uploading examples of your wildlife pictures to on-line platforms. This will lead to your course e-badge.

The e-badge

Once you have met the course learning outcomes and completed all the assignments you will have demonstrate your competence at using the camera trap and become an Effective Camera Trapper.

You will then gain an e-badge that will contain all the course information (learning outcomes, date, duration, training organisation) and a detailed description of our achievements. If you wish, you can then share the e-badge on social media and professional platforms and provide it to potential future employers.

You will need

You will need a computer (desktop or laptop) with an SD card reader and an internet connection. Previous participants have successful used tablets but these can present some challenges. The learning materials are presented in a Moodle virtual learning environment to which you will have a personal login. You will also need a Facebook account to access our Live streams.

You’ll need access to a variety of secure outdoor spaces where you can leave your camera for a few days without significant worries about it being lost/stolen. You will need to negotiate access to these spaces before the course begins. While we start the course by suggesting you use your garden, we move on to suggest using a local secure space, nature reserve or other potentially wildlife friendly area.

We ask you to cover the costs of postage when returning the camera and accompanying small items of equipment to us at the end of the course (approx. £10).

If you already have a camera or are thinking of buying one please be aware that for a host of reasons (SD Card comes with pre-loaded photos, camera is set to specific modes) we will loan you one of our cameras anyway. If you decide to have or buy a camera before the course starts you can run two simultaneously, that’s fine.

Costs and questions

The cost of the course is £299 + a returnable £100 deposit for the loan of the camera. Deadline for applications is midnight 30 November 2020.

Places are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please keep in mind that we received over 100 registrations of interest from all over the world within 24hours when this course first went public in late 2019!

If you have any specific question, please email Simon via info@ambios.net

Note: All fee income goes to support our nature conservation training and rewilding project on the Sharpham Estate, Devon, UK – we are a not-for-profit company.

Payment

Ambios Ltd are committed to protecting your personal data and working in accordance with all relevant data protection legislation. Will will never sell your data to anyone. Your data may be used to make you aware of other similar offers. You can opt out at any time with an email to info@ambios.net using Opt Out in Subject line.