An Alternative Natural History of Sussex.
This blog shows the highlights of my day to day findings as a naturalist and ecologist living and working in Sussex. Delivered with a pinch of nihilism, a dash of sarcasm and absolutely no tweeness, here is my attempt to show natural history as it really is: Brutal, beautiful, uncompromising and fascinating...and occasionally ridiculous.
I have been studying natural history for some thirty years, nineteen in a professional capacity. I currently work in Sussex as a freelance entomologist, ecologist and botanist and specialise in nature reserve and rewilding management advice based on the interpretation of the surveys I carry out. I also run a number of identification courses. An advocate of the pan-species listing approach. My main areas of interest are birds, plants and invertebrates and a lot of my spare time is spent in the field. I am the county recorder for spiders and bugs.
We had a long, much-needed day out yesterday along the Cuckmere and then around to Seaford Head. It was a 'ten-mile day', the sort of day that starts in the dark and ends in the dark (at a Garden Centre for Uloborus plumipes). I added about 100 species to the year list, ending the first month on 1,121 species - that's 18.7% complete. This includes a whopping 593 invertebrates in January alone!
We were joined all day by my friend Alex Worsley and it was great fun. I picked up a few missing birds, like Little Grebe, Redshank, Shelduck, Lesser Black-backed Gull andan Avocet was a nice spot along the meanders. I have still not seen a Greylag?!
Plants like Yellow Horned-poppy and Sea Mayweed were new for the year, and vacuuming big clumps of YHP is really good for shingle inverts. Including 10 Ethelcus verrucatus in one sample!!! This is a really rare weevil that only feeds on YHP, and represents more of them than I have ever seen before. I am up to 165 beetles for the year.
It was pretty cold on the beach, there's a lot of motionless staring into trays looking for stuff to move. We got the three target linys Halorates reprobus, Silometopus ambiguus and Typhocrestus digitatus but the jumpers were not coming out to play. I added about 15 spiders, putting me on 158 species in January, 171 for all arachnids.
One vac of some Viper's-bugloss returned this weevil royalty, Mogulones geographicus. Tubs described it best "Lines and lines and lines and lines."
And I rarely see Gronops lunatus, it was a very beetle-heavy day.
And the scarce coastal woodlouse with bonkers antennae, Halophiloscia couchii.
The new District 9 movie looks a bit rubbish...
Round to Seaford Head and a quick look back up the saltmarsh for known patches of Sea Wormwood, Sea Plantain, Common Sea-lavender and Common Saltmarsh-grass. Stomping past lines of bewildered tourists trying to walk along a REALLY muddy sea wall in their totally unsuitable footwear was hilarious. It was worth it though, as I got a lifer in the form of Saldula pilosella, a scarce coastal shore bug.
In the same area, the only place I know of where you can see Trichosirocalus thalhammeri.
And an unexpected Chrysolina staphylaea was only my sixth ever record.
At Hope Gap, a few easy ticks like Moon Carrot and Helicella itala.
And Alex told me what this Cladonia is, that I have been looking at up there for years as Cladonia foliacea. A lifer.
A bit of vacuuming and I got an adult female Agroeca inopina.
Many thank to everyone who has sponsored me so far, please do consider sponsoring me if you can, I am fund raising for Sussex Wildlife Trust's reserves here.
You can sign up to the pan-species listing website here, it's totally free (although donations to the team are welcome).
And finally, my book is due to be released on the 26th Feb, less than a month to go!!! You can order it here, directly from Pelagic. Also, my copies have arrived!!! People who pre-ordered it, should be getting their copies very soon! It looks amazing, I am so pleased with it.
This week; maybe some night-time rock-pooling, lichens and spiders on heaths. And maybe a bit on some arable too, all depends on the weather.
Had a great day out spidering with me old mate Adrian Holloway today. We started in torrential rain at the Cuckmere looking for Pseudeuophrys obseleta. We didn't find it but did find an adult male Sitticus inexpectusbut that was already on my list fromthe other side of the river this year. I did however get a couple of really nice linys that I had never seen before. Typhochrestus digitatus at its only Sussex site and loads of the very cool Pelecopsis nemoralioides. Both nationally scarce and both species new to me. The latter was the first East Sussex record since 1961. Also new for the year was a long overdue Dysdera erythrina. Here is the male Sitticus inexpectus.
And the Pelecopsis nemoralioides.
A quick dash over to the Pevesney Levels to look for one of my favourite wolf spiders. The impressive and scarce Pirata piscatorius, this being the only known East Sussex site. So big and bad ass they often get mistaken for Dolomedes! Much darker and bigger than any of the others in the genus, they usually have a strong white stripe down the side of the cephalothorax but this one didn't.
And then a quick dash over to my favourite bit of abused and abandoned shingle, the Crumbles. There we picked up Typhocrestus digitatus again, at which is now its second Sussex site. The weevil Ethelcus verrucatus and this new assassin bug, Empicoris rubromaculatus. New to East Sussex after it was spotted near Henfield only last month.
And no trip to the Crumbles is complete without a Myrmarachne formicaria. Here is a little video to show how ant-like they really are. So FOUR new ones for the year leaves me on 326 species of spider for 2019.
Jumping spiders are awesome, So awesome in fact that this article can only be read by listening to Van Halen. All jumping spiders permanently have this on on their headphones.
There is however one massive problem with jumping spiders: there are not enough of them. If you count the three accidental species, there are 42 on the list, if not it's just 39. I have been lucky enough to see 28 of these 42 species so far, I'm running out of them!
I have 455 records of jumping spiders in my database. Here they are starting with the species with the most records...
1) Marpissa muscosa (nationally scarce) - 49 records
Our biggest jumper is pretty easy to pick up from casual observations on gate posts, so that's probably why it's my most recorded jumper (despite being scarce it's common in the south east). It's also easy to find when looking for deadwood beetles.
2) Neon reticulatus - 43 records
I don't have a photo of this diminutive species but it seems to be ubiquitous in moss and is really easy to find with the suction sampler.
3) Salticus scenicus - also 43 records
The familiar synathropic species doesn't turn up that much on surveys on nature reserves but does well for casual recording around towns and semi-urban sites.
4) Euophrys frontalis - 41 records
This little jumper is actually a member of the magic circle, having two magic wands grafted on to where it's front legs should be. Looking at its eyes it also has severe hay fever. Very common, especially in litter piles etc.
5) Evarcha arcuata (nationally scarce) - 37 records
This mainly heathland specialist is clearly well represented in my records for all the surveys I have done on heathlands. This is a stonking jumper, the adult males look like miniature Gorillas with added war paint. And legs. Female above, male below.
6) Heliophanus flavipes - 36 records
OK, I know this will make me unpopular but if we have our favourites, we should also have our least favourites. I don't really like Heliophanus. We have two mega common species that are not always easy to do in the field. Neither is scarce and neither really tells me anything about the habitat. And I have no photos of either. The fluorescent yellow palps in the female are purchased from Cyberdog. There are two other rare and restricted species I am yet to see.
7) Evarcha falcata - 29 records
Phwoar!!! This on the other hand, is a smart spider. I am a sucker for a contrastingly tri-coloured invertebrate. The proportions are so pleasing too. Imagine having one of these the size of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. You'd get some looks going to the shops! I don't see this as much as arcuata despite that having cons status and this not.
8) Ballus chalybeius (nationally scarce) - 28 records
This species is pretty easy to find by beating foliage of trees and bushes in the summer. I tend to record the female more than the male. Here is the only shot I could find of an adult male. It looks like Sibianor aurocinctus but I have only ever found that in grassland. That one is coming. I love this guy's front legs and 'upholstered' abdomen.
9) Heliophanus cupreus - 24 records.
Meh. The other species in the genus.
10) Sibianor aurocinctus - (nationally scarce) - 22 records
I can't believe that this has made it into the top ten. I only recorded my first one in May 2016 at Levin Down. I could blame this on the purchase of my suction sampler but I think it's going through a genuine increase as most of my records are from the sweep net. Although most have been on chalk, I have picked them up on neutral and slightly acid grassland and sometimes not even particularity good grassland. If you think Ballus's legs are cool, you ain't seen nothing yet. Get a load of this.
11) Sitticus inexpectus (nationally scarce) - 17 records
The first of the shingle specialists and perhaps the most widespread of those in Sussex. Male first, then the female. Expect inexpectus on shingle.
12) Talavera aequipes - 17 records
I have no photos of this tiny little beast. I usually pick it up in the suction sampler on the chalk and at coastal sites etc.
13) Pseudeuophrys obseleta (nationally scarce) - 12 records
I have no photos of this little jumper either, known as the Whelk-shell Jumper (as it's on the BAP list). I have only seen it on vegetated shingle on the Cuckmere.
14) Aelurillus v-insignitus (nationally scarce) - 11 records
OMG. I love this spider. It's definitely my favourite. Proportionally very square, almost cuboidal.
In Sussex, it's only ever been found at Iping Common and Ambersham Common and needs early successional habitat to thrive. Male (above) has creamy, dreamy palps. Intense green eyes, head-chevrons and a big fat white stripe down the black abdomen. Everything you could ever want from a jumping spider.
15) Salticus cingulatus - 10 records
I think of this as being the thinner, paler, more arboreal/rural version of the common Salticus scenicus.
16) Salticus zebraneus (nationally scarce) - 8 records
The rarest of the three species and usually found on pines or beaten from big old oaks with dead branches etc.
17) Pseudeouphrys lanigera - 6 records
Don't bother looking for this spider, it will find you. Usually when you are not expecting it and always around houses. Probably at a time you don't have a notebook on you so don't forget to record it!
18) Myrmarachne formicaria (nationally scarce) - 5 records
I have only ever seen this ant mimic at the Crumbles where it is abundant in Pampas Grass tussocks. You can now also find this spider at Rye Harbour.
19) Sitticus saltator - (nationally scarce) 4 records
All my records come from a single site on a single day, Climping Dunes in West Sussex. This is a TINY jumper. Does some really funky dancing up and down fallen Marram Grass stems. With a proportionally large 'head', the cute factor is turned up to 11.
20) Sitticus pubescens - 3 records
Not a scarce species but one I hardly ever see. I think all my records come from the classroom wall at Woods Mill!
21) Neon pictus (nationally rare) - 2 records
I have been shown this by Andy Phillips and Chris Bentley at Rye Harbour but I have no photos of this tiny and rare shingle specialist.
22) Pellenes tripunctatus (nationally rare) - 2 records
If Adam Ant (then not now) was a jumping spider, he would probably look like this. This is one of the smartest looking organisms I have ever seen. It's my second favourite jumper. Mega rare and only found at Rye Harbour and a few other shingle sites nationally. It's big an' all.
23) Talavera petrensis (nationally rare) - 2 records
I picked this up on scrape at Iping that had been put in for Heath Tiger Beetles. It was the first record there in some 45 years. They're still on that scrape. It's a tiny but insanely bright jumper and a very active one too. The photo doesn't do it justice. The orange-red colour is intense.
I have only on record for each of these species
24) Macaroeris nidicoloens (introduced)
This is out of date actually as I have had it in Sussex now at the Crumbles. A big smart spider (this is the female). Found by beating pines in urban settings.
25) Marpissa nivoyi (nationally scarce)
Found in Marram Grass litter, I have only ever seen it at Camber Sands in East Sussex.
26) Marpissa radiata (nationally rare)
This is the only native spider here that does not occur in Sussex! I have only ever seen this once sieving fen litter at Chippenham Fen.
27) Phlegra fasciata (nationally rare)
Another coastal specialist that I have never managed to photograph. A really smart chunky spider, the female like a humbug.
28) Hasarius adansoni (introduced)
An introduced species that I have seen once in a hot house in Surrey.
OK, that ended up being longer than I thought. Well done if you got the end. Now jump to it and get out there recording jumping spiders!
Every year just seems to beat the last one. This has been my most prolific recording year to date with well over 15000 records entered so far this year but what were the highlights? In reverse order we have:
10. Tiered Tooth at Ebernoe Common. My all time favourite fungus which also couldn't be more Christmas if it tried.
9. The first time I'd ever seen an Osprey fishing let alone catch a fish (and then drop it). This was in the Cuckmere.
8. Rock-pooling at the Pound near Eastbourne produced my first live Lobster (which promptly nipped me) and not only my first species of sea slug but three species of them, I've still not seen them anywhere else! It's the best place I know for rock-pooling in Sussex. Thanks to Oli Froom for the photo.
7. Wildlife in Portugal was AMAZING. I had ten new birds which were all unforgettable but the highlight has to be Mediterranean Chameleon just for how much effort we put into tracking one down and its sudden appearance at the final hour.
6. Controversial as it might be, mopping up loads of rare bugs on Jersey and adding them to my PSL list was a blast. This Graphosoma lineatum says it all really.
5. After walking the beach in Hove for weeks looking for a Portuguese Man o' War, I finally struck gold after a tip off from work that they'd arrived.
4. Invertebrate survey at Butcherlands, Ebernoe Common. I still haven't identified all the specimens yet but the spiders alone were amazing. The large population of Pardosa paludicola was a real surprise to everyone. Thanks to Evan Jones for the photo.
3. The invertebrate survey at Graffham Common was even more surprising, the spiders were also out of this world there but it was perhaps this Sundew Plume, that hadn't been seen in Sussex for 20 years that was most surprising.
2. 1000 species in a day. Probably the most fun you can have in 24 hours of non-stop biological recording. Read more about this here. Photo by Alice Parfitt.
1. Pan-species Listing ALL of Sussex Wildlife Trust's 32 reserves. When I first did this last year we were on around 9770. I have six reserves left to analyse and I will have updated the list for the year. Will we have reached 10,000? I will be talking about this at Adastra soon in more detail but I can't express enough how useful an exercise this has been and will continue to be if regularly updated. I use the spreadsheet every day now and can't imagine doing my job without it.
Let's hope that 2018 is another amazing year for wildlife recording! Thanks for reading.
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