The Making of An Ecologist - 13/10/22

Ever since I was a child I've absolutely loved nature. In fact I'd call it an obsession. I've soaked in as much information throughout my life and thankfully there is just always something else to be learning.

Growing up in the West of Kent, I was surrounded by a mixture rural agricultural practice and the edges of the sprawling London suburbs. Rather than looking close to home, my interests were drawn to the more colourful and exciting nature across the globe. The flora and fauna that graced our tropical rainforests, savannahs, desserts, polar ocean caps and deep ocean trenches become my happy place. I had my national geographic VHSs on repeat (yeah you read that right...VHS), stacks of reference books, a box full of plastic animals and David Attenborough virtually narrated my life.

I remember one day finding out that being a zoologist was a thing and ever since that day, that was the dream. To be a zoologist. I'd imagined myself travelling the world, visiting far flung islands, scrabbling up the sides of volcanoes, hiking through cloud forests and paddling down the Amazon. In my imagination, I had a pair of binoculars around my neck, an adventurers backpack on, my notebook full of scribbles and annotated drawings and a scarlet macaw on my shoulder.

I got my GCSEs, completed my International Baccalaureate and then finally made it to the real stuff. I was off to get a Zoology degree. This was it. I was going to be a zoologist. I studied all aspects of ecology, taxonomy, physiology, evolution and even threw in a bit of paleobiology. I absolutely loved the learning process, the trawling for papers, flicking through textbooks and whilst some people may have been dozing during lectures, I sat there attentively, never missing a single one.

Three years went by in a flash, which I'm sure had nothing to do with the partying, late nights nor meeting my future wife. And then the moment of truth, I had my degree. I was a zoologist.

Now what...

It turns out that not every zoology graduate gets to become David Attenborough's apprentice. Nor do they get a magic well paid job, studying animals in those cool destinations mentioned above. When I had applied and been rejected from enough PhDs, I realised that having my Zoology degree just wasn't enough.

A Masters degree in Biodiversity and Conservation would surely do the trick. I went back to university, studied hard and earnt a distinction. The difference this time was that rather than purely focusing on ecology, I had to also learn about UK policy, legislation and about ecological assessments that I didn't think were relevant for a Zoologist.

That's when I realised. I was not going to become the globe trotting, khaki wearing, machete wielding Indiana Jones of Zoology. I was to become an ecologist.

A British based, homegrown ecologist. Someone trudging through the semi-natural habitats and arable field margins of the UK searching for British species. And that's when it hit me. My knowledge base for British ecology was pretty poor. I'd spent so long dreaming of African plains and Australian outback that I had forgotten what was in my own backyard.

I had to shift gears, I had to pick up British wildlife reference books and study them hard, get out in the local woodlands, heathlands and grasslands and identify everything. I had to evolve into an Ecologist, and to be fair, the description of my dream self above is not too far from my reality. Binoculars, check, adventurers backpack, check, notebook full of scribbles, check, I just never got that scarlet macaw...

My entry into the world of ecology was a shock. Consultancy made ecology feel a little like a tick box exercise. "Is there an ecologist on site? OK fine, lets cut down everything to make way for this road." I was a body on the ground, an Ecological Clerk of Works watching habitats being cut down day after day and any advice I gave was just taken as if I were an oversensitive kid who didn't understand the economics behind these projects. 

Where was the conservation? Where was the habitat enhancement? Where was even the proper consideration for these habitats and species? I found it demoralising and totally backwards that we had a load of passionate ecologists out there effectively just sitting by and watching the world burn. 

Thankfully, it turns out that not every consultancy acts in this way and we were on the brink of a new wave of Biodiversity Net Gain and Rewilding*. There are truly passionate ecologists out there working hard and tirelessly to try and create a future in which development can occur side by side with nature, or better yet where we let nature just do its thing. 

So I'm currently an ecologist with hope for the future, a slim hope albeit, but hope. We have the tools, the people and the passion. We just need the societal change.  

*more to be discussed on both of these topics.