In my view, botanical skills are probably the most important skills an ecologist should have in their toolbelt, or for that matter any naturalist, nature enthusiast or regular persons toolbelt. And here is why.  

Even a basic understanding of botany can help in every almost ecological assessment or survey an ecologist could be asked to complete. All fauna are intrinsically linked to a specific habitat or set of habitats. Habitats are fundamentally a community of plants. Having the skills to identify said plants, allows you to unlock knowledge about the habitats and subsequently about the species that could be dependent upon that habitat type. 

You don't have to make it to FISC Level 5. You don't have to specialise in botany. You don't need to speak in fluent Latin. You don't even have to have a hand lens (although this is fun). All you need is a simple guide book and a willingness to learn. 

Botany often appears challenging, and that's because at the top end of species identification it can be! The British Isles has thousands of species of plant and this includes challenging groups to identify (grasses, sedges, bryophytes), countless hybrids and a whole host of non-natives. That's a lot of plants to know about. Thankfully though we can take photos, collect samples, smell them, feel them, make sketches, use guide books, look through our hand lens, send to referees and the best one, ask a friend for help. There's a load of resources available to work out what species we are looking at and a wealth of knowledge regarding plant behaviours, habitat preferences, soil preferences and who's eating them/living in them/laying eggs in them. 

Stick with it and over time, you'll be surprised what you pick up and discover. And remember this is certainly a marathon and not a sprint.

And before you say, I'm a birder/bat specialist/lazy person/non-ecologist, I don't need to know about plants, here's a few examples to make you think again:

• I want to go and find the waxwings that have migrated from Scandinavia this winter. The best way of spotting them is to stake out a berry bearing tree, their favourites often being rowan and hawthorn. I use my botanical skills to identify the correct food source.

• I'm looking for suitable bat roosting features within a woodland. I've found a gnarly old tree with woodpecker holes, hazard beams and a lovely cavity in the main stem. I need to record it, but it's winter and there are no leaves. I check the winter buds and see it has clustered red buds.  I use my botanical skills to identify the tree as an English oak from buds alone.

• I'm walking along a south coastal chalky pathway in search of the elusive Lulworth skipper. Best place to find this species? Look for its host plant, tor-grass Brachypodium pinnatum. I use my botanical skills to identify the correct hostplant and boom a kaleidoscope of Lulworth's.

• And for any non-ecologists. I am stranded and lost within a forest and I'm without a phone. I'm in survival mode. I know not to eat the berries of that deadly nightshade, or go poking around the hemlock, but I can find a smörgåsbord of damson berries, hazel nuts, rustle up some pickled ash keys and make a delicious rosehip jelly (maybe that's pushing it...). 

Finally, a few of my best books for botany (see below):

• Beginner - Collins Wild Flower Guide; Collins Tree Guide; The Wildflower Key (Rose).

• Intermediate - FSC British Water Plants; BSBI Handbooks (Loads of great ones, but recommend Grasses and Sedges of the British Isles).

• Professional (or book lover) - The Vegetative Key to the British Flora (Poland); New Flora of the British Isles (Stace); Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland: A Field Guide. 

• Survivalist - Hedgerow Handbook; SAS Survival Handbook: The Definitive Survival Guide.