Baker Consultants

The Diary of an Apprentice with Matthew Keough: The Eden Project

Throughout his time with us, Matthew Keough, Baker Consultant’s new Level 7 Ecology Apprentice, will be keeping a ‘Diary of an Apprentice’ so he can share everything he’s learning whilst on his journey to becoming a well-rounded Ecologist. In his first week, Matthew spent some time at The Eden Project during a residential trip to Cornwall with Ecologists from across the UK.

My First Week as a Level 7 Ecology Apprentice – The Eden Project (with Dr. Mark Nason) 

The first residential of the MSc programme brought 25 eager Ecologists together from all over the country to learn from each other and the fantastic academic staff at Eden Project Learning (EPL). The week was inspiring to say the least, we visited: the Cornwall Beaver Project, Cabilla Rewilding Project, Rewilding Coombeshead, Cornwall Dynamic Dunescapes and of course…The Eden Project (only for an hour-long tour, surprisingly!). All of the projects were led by people driven by the same belief; that putting ecological restoration into practice is the only way to combat the ecological crisis we face here in the UK, and many other places around the world. What a week it was! For a more detailed description of the week, read this piece written by a fellow student, and now friend, Mari: https://www.thegrumpyoptimists.com/p/a-grumpy-optimist-on-tor-an-ecology

 My first week on the job at Baker Consultants itself included plenty of inductions! Most of the week was spent learning the ropes, from how to use the coffee machine (which is fantastic by the way) to using QGIS (a mapping software) in order to produce maps using data collected from habitat surveys (thanks Jim & Jed!).

 My first two weeks have been great. I have been bombarded with so much information about the subject that I love, Ecology. I feel very privileged to have this opportunity and I will do my best everyday so that I can reach my potential as an Ecologist. Thanks to everyone at EPL and Baker Consultants for welcoming me so kindly!

 The Baker Consultants team is highly experienced and we are passionate about what we do. If you need advice related to ecology, surveys or conservation, then please get in touch with us via our contact form on the website, or you can call us on +44 (0)1629 593958 or email us on info@bakerconsultants.co.uk.