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Pine Martens and protocols — working with Martens on the Move volunteers to monitor den boxes
Make a difference Getting involved
Making a difference
Volunteers are crucial to our work — whether it's the traditional conservation volunteer activities or taking part in wider citizen science surveys — we wouldn't be able to achieve as much for threatened mammal conservation without their help — whatever skills they bring or whatever time they can give, it all helps to make a difference.
Sightings submitted
340
Irish stoats, polecats and pine Martens from October to December 2024
Volunteering hours
2,700
Time gifted on a variety of volunteer opportunities for VWT's work
Bat Emergence Counts
7,989
Bats counted during the 2024 summer season, adding to the National Bat Monitoring Programme
Current opportunities to volunteer
Volunteers get involved in a variety of ways, including monitoring bats during summer emergence events or winter hibernation counts; monitoring a pine marten den box; setting up acoustic bat detectors in woodlands; or helping with the maintenance of bat reserves.
Opportunities can often be seasonal, have fixed start and end dates, or they may be home-based and continuous. Check out our current volunteering opportunities below.
Gather important information on the presence of barbastelle bats.
Location: Pembrokeshire, Wales
Help to set up and monitor acoustic detectors to help VWT find out where barbastelles are roosting in Pembrokeshire as part of its Natur am Byth Barbastelle Project.
What’s involved Set up static bat detectors at selected woodland sites to improve our understanding on the distribution and occurrence of this rare species. We will supply the equipment and allocate a woodland location.
Commitment
- Attend a training session on how to use the survey equipment — click here to apply. For more information on the training sessions, please see the training event details below.
- Survey at least one woodland location from mid-May to August.
- During the survey — set up the detectors in the woodland and then collect them in again a few days later.
What will you need?
- Enthusiasm and willingness to learn and volunteer outdoors
- Ability to travel to sites and walk through woodlands with uneven ground
- A moderate to good level of fitness
- Attention to detail
- Live in our near to Pembrokeshire
Visit the Barbastelle Project page for more information and to get in touch with Cathy Jewson (Natur am Byth! Barbastelle Conservation Officer)
Join a long-term woodland bat box scheme for barbastelle bats.
Location: near Little Malvern, Worcestershire
VWT has been monitoring the bat boxes for the barbastelle, an elusive woodland species, since 2004.
What’s involved? Join VWT’s Bat Team as they carry out bat box checks for a long-term ringing programme for barbastelle bats. The boxes are located throughout the woodland site, high in the trees and the activity involves a full day of walking, helping to carry equipment, checking bat boxes and recording data.
Handling of bats is not required but may be considered if you have a current Bat Licence and are experienced in bat handling — and are vaccinated against bat lyssavirus.
Commitment
- One weekday per month between April and September (excluding June)
- Full day of outdoor activity — usually 10am–4pm but may finish earlier (if you need to head off earlier, please let the team know beforehand)
What will you need?
- Access to transport to get to the site
- Willingness to work outdoors in all weathers (except heavy rain and high winds)
- Good level of fitness and ability to walk on uneven and muddy ground while carrying equipment
- Enthusiasm for team work
- Willingness to learn
- Attention to detail
Join our network of volunteers monitoring horseshoe bat roosts for the National Bat Monitoring Programme.
Help to carry out emergence counts of lesser and greater horseshoe bats at one or more of VWT bat reserves. These annual counts are essential for monitoring the bat colonies at the reserves and contribute to Bat Conservation Trust’s National Bat Monitoring Programme.
The counts also help to alert VWT's Bat Team to any changes in colony size and structure — and may inform future works to improve the roosts.
Location Various reserves in southwest England and Wales. Some of the areas listed below have more than one reserve to choose from.
Locations of reserves and months during which counts are taken.
- Near Monmouth, Monmouthshire – June (2-4 evening counts)
- Near Crickhowell and Brecon, Powys – June (2-8 evening counts)
- Near Builth Wells, Powys – June (2 evening counts)
- Near Bridport, Dorset – June (2-4 evening counts)
- Near Bucknell, Shropshire – June (2 evening counts)
- Near Glastonbury, Somerset – June and July (2-4 evening counts)
- South Devon – June, July and August (2-4 evening counts)
- Near Blandford Forum, Dorset – July (2 evening counts)
- Near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire – July (2 evening counts)
What's involved
Join VWT volunteers to count bats emerging from the roost using click counters. Bat detectors and infra-red cameras will be available at some reserves where needed for more accurate counting. Training is provided via videos and on the night.
Commitment
- Two evening visits in June (lesser horseshoe bat counts)
And/or
- Two evening visits in July (greater horseshoe bat counts)
NB There may be opportunity to help with surveys at other times of year.
What will you need?
- Enthusiasm and willingness to learn
- Ability to travel to roost sites in the evenings and to drive in the dark
- Patience and attention to detail and safety
- Camping chair (optional but recommended)
- Head torch or torch
- No experience needed. All are welcome.
VWT Volunteer Training Event
Learn how to use static bat detectors to survey for barbastelle bats and become a volunteer community scientist with VWT and Natur am Byth!
At each location, you’ll learn how to use and install detectors in a woodland. A week later, we’ll return and learn how to collect them for analysis by the Project Officer. These activities will contribute survey data for each woodland. We’ll be working as a team in woodland for most of the day, and so you will need to be able to walk through woodlands with uneven ground and a variety of vegetation. Click here to apply.
See poster for locations, dates and times.
Frequently Asked Questions about volunteering with VWT
We welcome volunteers of all ages but we do ask that any volunteer under the age of 18 is accompanied by a parent or guardian who is also registered as a volunteer with us.
We share our volunteering opportunities that are open to new volunteers on this page and through our Social Media platforms. Many of our volunteering opportunities are seasonal so we may not always have opportunities to share with you — but please keep checking this page.
Some of our volunteering takes place alongside VWT staff and in groups. Other opportunities allow volunteers to be more independent and carry out activities on their own.
Most of our volunteer roles ask for no prior experience and instead focus on characteristics that suit the volunteer role. All the volunteer roles include information about what is needed for the activity to help decide whether the role is suitable for you.
In most circumstances, yes. Volunteering activities are often in the field and may involve getting to remote places. However, some of our volunteers are able to carry out volunteer roles on their own land — eg, hosting a pine marten den box in their woodland, or monitoring a trail camera in a nearby location.
Commitment levels can vary depending on the activity. During the main monitoring season (April-September) there is a peak of activities — during this period some activities take place one day a month for at least five hours in the field OR, once in June for three hours during an evening — it really depends on the activity. Check the ‘commitment’ details of each volunteer opportunity in the Current Opportunities section. We recognise that people have varying amounts of time available and so we try to be flexible where we can.
Yes — occasionally we do recruit for volunteer roles that are office-based or home-based. These will be shared in Current Opportunities when available.
Other ways to get involved
From reporting your sightings to hosting a pine marten den box in your woodland
Report a pine marten sighting
Share your sightings of pine martens and contribute to the first ever National Pine Marten Monitoring Programme. For further information and to submit a sighting, visit the Martens on the Move website.
Report a polecat sighting
Share your polecat sightings (dead or alive) and help to monitor the recovery of polecats across Britain. For further information and to submit a sighting, visit the National Polecat Survey page.
Host a pine marten den box in your woodland
Do you own or manage woodland in the Brechfa, Shropshire-Herefordshire, Solway or Tweed Valley Monitoring Hub areas of the Martens on the Move project? Could you host a den box on your land and provide a site for pine martens to rest and breed. Visit the Martens on the Move website to find out more.
Share your regular monitoring records
We would like to hear from you if you are regularly monitoring pine marten den boxes or monitoring stations, or carrying out scat surveys in our Martens on the Move Strategic Recovery Areas so that we can include your data in the National Pine Marten Monitoring Programme and get your martens on the map.
Read more about how volunteers are getting involved and making a difference
Blog
Learning how to install den boxes
