Bats: survey or research level 2 licence (CL18)

This licence allows you to disturb or capture bats by hand or using:

• endoscopes
• static hand-held nets
• torches

You can disturb but not handle hibernating bats.

You need a:

• level 1 licence if you only need to disturb roosting bats use a torch
• level 3 licence to use mist nets and acoustic lures
• level 4 licence to use harp traps and acoustic lures

For survey, research or conservation work not covered by this licence you must apply for either:

• an individual licence
• a level 1 licence
• a level 3 licence
• a level 4 licence

For development work affecting bats, you must apply for a mitigation licence.

You must release all bats at the place where they were captured immediately after they are examined.

If you are registered on the level 2 licence you will not need the level 1 licence because it covers the same methods.

Register with Natural England

BeforeYou must register with Natural England before you can use this licence,licence.

youRegister mustfor registera withclass Naturallicence Englandto usingsurvey thebats registration form.

Natural England will confirm your registration in writing, usually within 30 working days. You must not carry out any licensed activities until you receive written confirmation of your registration.

What you need to pay

It costs £104 to register for a new CL18 licence.

It costs £35 a year to continue your registration.

You must declare the intended use of the licence on your registration form. To continue your registration, you must declare how you used the licence in the past year on your annual survey return. This will determine if you need to pay, such as if you are going to survey bats for development projects.

Natural England will refund unsuccessful applications.

When you do not need to pay

You do not need to pay if the licence is only used for:

• voluntary purposes – any work you do is unpaid and you are registered with an organisation, charity or local recording group as a volunteer
• conservation, science or research purposes and research related to the protected species is carried out by a student or employee of an academic institution or research body

How to pay

You can pay using a bank card. Follow the GOV.UK Pay link on the registration form or survey return form.

Read the terms and conditions for paying for a wildlife licence.

References

You need to complete a reference to support a survey or research licence form when you register for this licence if you:

• have not held a licence for the species or a similar species for the last 3 years
• have a licence but want to add new methods

Report actionactions taken under the licence

You must completereport thein a bat survey licence return any actions that are taken under this licence.

You must report your actions from 1 November to 31 October, and submit the form by 30 November each year, even if you’ve taken no action or did not find any target species.

YouYou’ll mustneed reportto yourprovide actionsthe fromnames 1of Novemberany toaccredited 31agents Octoberwho eachcarried year.out the surveys on your behalf.  

You must listtell us about all the surveys carriedwhere outyou underor thisyour licenceaccredited whereagents you found bats.bats when using the licensable methods. For eachCL18 survey,these youwill mustbe record:surveys where you:

• the

  captured batbats speciesby foundhand or hand net 

• survey

  disturbed locationroosting –bats includewith thea 10torch figureor Ordnanceendoscope

For Surveyeach gridsite reference,where siteyou name,disturbed countyor andcaptured postcodebats (whereusing available)the licensable methods, you must record the: 

• date

  location of eachthe survey

• visitsite type(10 andfigure roostOrdnance typeSurvey grid reference and county) 

• number

  start and end date of batsthe youperiod observedthat orsurveys capturedtook place

• the

  purpose of your surveysurveys 

Youtotal cannumber alsoof recordeach additionalspecies informationof suchbat as:

• thethat sexwere andcaptured ageor ofdisturbed batsusing found
• methodseach usedlicensable formethod thatover the entire survey period 

• notes

  peak count of each species of bat recorded roosting on the survey site in any single survey

You’ll also need to give:report whether you and any accredited agents followed best practice when using the licence.

You do not need to tell us about surveys: 

• where you did not use the nameslicensable ofmethods, accreditedfor agentsexample, whoa workednocturnal survey where you did not capture or disturb any roosting bats 

• that were carried out under youra licencedifferent licence, such as a bat mitigation licence 

• whether

  where you followedwere bestan practiceaccredited whenagent usingor theassistant on another person’s survey class licence or individual project licence

Submit a bat survey licence return

You must also send your results to the Local Record Centre. You can do this by recording your results on the iRecord website or contacting the Local Record Centre.

ContinueUsing your registrationlicence for another year

YouBy reporting your actions, you can continue to use the surveylicence returnfor formthe following reporting period. If you will use the licence for surveys to continueinform yourdevelopment registration.projects, Ityou costswill £35need ato yearpay £35 to continue your registration,registration unlessfor another year.

Get help

If you areneed exempt.help with registering for a class licence or completing your survey licence return form, contact wildlife.scicons@naturalengland.org.uk.