At the end of July, I was sat in bed one evening and checked my emails (I live an exciting life). The subject line of my most recent email read ”Matthew Keough – FISC level 4 candidate number 8”. I couldn’t believe it – I actually got a provisional FISC level 4! My imposter syndrome finally lifted slightly, and I felt like maybe I know a thing or two. It’s safe to say I felt very proud of myself. FISC is the Field Identification Skills Certificate: a plant identification exam that evaluates your skills for identifying plants, both in the lab and in the field. I am excited to continue learning about botany and further improving my ID skills. Pictured is a relatively rare musk thistle I spotted on a hike in the Peak District one weekend. Once you develop an interest in plants, every walk is a ‘botanising’ trip!
During this month’s batch of reptile surveys across several sites, I managed to spot my first common lizards: two juveniles and one pregnant female. The site was an oasis amongst a heavily industrialised area on the Thames; one of interest for sure. Overgrown shrubs had taken over the space and had a great diversity of habitats, something often referred to as an ‘open mosaic habitat’.
I also completed a few tree climbing surveys this month, which are always fun. Climbing trees in the sun looking for bats will never feel like work, and I feel very fortunate to be able to do it as part of my job. This task is highly rewarding as a lot of features are ruled out as having no roost potential for bats once the tree is climbed, which can be done relatively quickly. If the feature hadn’t been ruled out, someone would have had to do an emergence survey from the ground and spend two hours staring at the tree, when there was never a feature bats could use in the first place. Tree climbing can therefore save the client money and the ecologists time, a win-win!
In other news, when I first started at Baker Consultants, I started consistently going to the gym. However, I’ve been less disciplined as of late and so I’ve been trying to get into good habits again. I thought it would be difficult and I’d miss the joys of not so healthy food, but it wasn’t. Hitting the gym again has paid off and I’m feeling fighting fit again. I’ve been getting much better sleep, giving me so much more energy and helping me focus more at both work and home. It has definitely made me rethink my relationship with food, and hopefully it will instil some better long-term habits.
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