Freelance Ecologist – Bat Surveyor for Bat Emergence and Re-entry Surveys (BERS)

Department: Ecology

Employment Type: Freelance

Location: Remote

Compensation: £16.67 - £34.29 / hour

Description

Are you…

An experienced ecologist looking for freelance work?
Looking for a straightforward, paid way to break into the ecology industry?
Just looking for a bit of extra cash in addition to your usual job or studies?

In 2024, around the UK, Arbtech undertook over 2000 Bat Emergence and Re-

entry Surveys (BERS), and we are on track to do much more this year. Many of these surveys were undertaken with the help of our loyal team of subcontract bat surveyors and this season we’re looking for even more people to join us on our bat surveys.

Our subcontractors come from a wide variety of backgrounds, so whatever your past experience is, we’d love to hear from you.

What does it entail?

As a freelance bat surveyor, you can work at a wide range of sites across England and Wales (and occasionally Scotland) observing and recording bat activity typically at sunset, and rarely at dawn
A typical site visit takes roughly 2.5 hours
We ask you to identify bats using an Echometer or similar equipment, note activity on a survey sheet and send it to our team digitally along with a write-up that evening or the next day
We also record the surveys on infra-red cameras, and if you’re interested you can be paid to review this footage too, which can be done as remote working
You can work as much or as little as you like – we provide you with access to our online system to sign up to the surveys only at times and places to suit you, and we’ll pay you (quickly) for each survey you conduct

Requirements:

We don’t have a ton of requirements. If you’re new to the world of bat surveying, we’ll provide you with free training material, take you shadowing and ask you to take a basic test to demonstrate you’re ready to work independently.

All we ask of you is that:

You have a car in order to get to sites
You bring your own bat detector (you can purchase one online which will pay for itself in just 4 surveys - any further surveys are pure profit for you) and other basic gear like a camping chair, a clipboard and warm clothing. We’ll bring the expensive stuff like IR cameras, if you don’t have your own
You learn enthusiastically and engage with Arbtech’s streamlined workflow
You are punctual and reliable, and consistently turn up to sites when expected – we’re a team, so we’re looking for team players that don’t let the side down
While you don't need any qualifications to apply, this would be ideal work for you if you're doing or have done a degree in Ecology, Biology, Environmental Studies, Geography or similar

Pay

Pay depends on your competency level, and we have a series of online tests so that you can demonstrate that you’re ready to move up a level and earn more. If you’re brand new to bat surveying, we’ll start you at ‘assistant’ and you can work your way up. If you already have survey experience, we can offer you the surveyor or lead rates of pay from the get-go as long as you pass the online tests at the appropriate level (we provide all the training materials you need, and you don’t have to pass first time – you can have as many tries as you like).

Assistant: £50 per survey – this is for newcomers who need support from more experienced ecologists onsite
Surveyor: £90-£100 per survey. £100 applies if you hold a bat license or accreditation – this is for individuals who can confidently identify bats and work independently
Lead: £120 per survey – this is for individuals who direct a survey, and are experienced enough make on-the-fly decisions about e.g. survey modification for unexpected constraints, and deal with some types of queries from clients and members of the public on the night (you will be reporting to the project manager, or PM, who has overall responsibility for the survey)
Plus additional bonuses for doing surveys on weekends, during busy periods, or for bringing your own IR camera
Travel: you can expense 35p per mile travelled (via the most efficient route), plus an additional 10p per mile if you car share with another surveyor

Assuming 2.5 hours on site and 1 hour travelling to and from site, a surveyor (i.e. most of our workforce) would average £25.71/hr. For a lead, it’s £34.29/hr and an assistant it’s £16.67/hr

Infra-red camera footage analysis is also available, and paid too.

Please note these rates are fixed regardless of location or (aside from expensing milage) how far you chose to travel and are the same for dusk and dawn work. We don’t customise the above rates – because these are among the most generous pay rates per survey in the industry already!

We’ll share instructions on how to claim payment for surveys once you’re onboarded, and we do payments every 2 weeks (we aim for weekly, but we guarantee it in two weeks after receipt of a correct invoice).

What's Next:

Successful applicants will be put onto our online survey allocation system (which opens on April 1st), and given instructions on how to set themselves up, take their tests and sign up to surveys. We begin conducting surveys on May 1st. From there, it’s up to you to find as much work as you’d like, and go out and find some bats!

We look forward to you joining us!

Applied

Added To Survey Allocation System

BERS Tests