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.
I have just got back from a well-needed mini break, something I always do to mark the change between the winter ID and write up period and the start of my field season. A few months back, Nathan Jackson (one of a bunch of incredibly talented young naturalists from Bangor University) invited me a long to a trip he was planning from Bangor to Falmouth. Now I was down there in November where I spent some time with Finley Hutchinson (one of a bunch of incredibly talented young naturalists from the Penryn campus of Exeter University). Furthermore, we coincidentally had a contingent from Hampshire, including John and Tara, as well as my mate Kim from Brighton and loads of other people. We mopped up back in November with just a few of us, so with the dozens of eyes in the rock-pools this time, with very much a focus on nudibranchs, there was no way I was missing this. I could only do four nights though, so have had to suck up getting gripped off by amazing stuff being found before I arrived and (still ongoing) after I left. Yet I cannot complain, this was one of the best four days natural history of my life.
Yet the opening image of this post is of two bull Killer Whales (this is one of Nathan's shots). Apparently, they are slightly larger than the largest nudibranch, this was quite possibly one of the most magical and unexpected moments of my life. So how on Earth did we go from turning rocks for sea slugs to running after Orcas along the cliffs like feral children? You'll have to wait...
Day 1. Karen and I left Brighton at 3.55 am to arrive at Falmouth for 10.00 am, comfortably making the first low tide. Finley suggested some new areas at Tunnel Beach and that place was really productive. So I think we collectively saw at least 20 species of nudibranch on this trip, I saw 19 I think and eight of those were lifers. First up, check out this little nerd! Rostanga rubra is such a cute little dude, it's the only only nudibranch to wear corrective lenses over its rhinophores.
My second nudibranch lifer of the day is also another common one down there but I think its my favourite. As pure white as the driven snow, with the weirdest shaped chocolate-coloured rhinophores. The best thing about this is that it is perfectly camouflaged to hide among the pure-white nudibranch eggs that it specialises in feeding on. Favorinus branchialis. See if you can spot this one hiding in the eggs. What I love about this one, is that it makes finding nudibranch eggs even more exciting. I really fancy some shredded coconut after looking at these pictures.
But Rainbow Sea Slug Babakina anadoni was playing hard to get, then I stumbled on this huge animal. Not the first time I have seen one but it's such a wonderful moment every time you turn a rock and see this. Even better though is showing it to people for the first time, it's such a privilege to be able to do that with wildlife this spectacular.
Probably the best sea slug I found I didn't even photograph, Okenia nodosa is scarce at Falmouth (but really common at my nearest patch). Next up, a long overdue lifer for me under the first rock Cameron Wilkins turned over. Jorruna tomentosa, I didn't get a good photo but there were quite a few of these rather plain but attractive little dorids about.
Karen spotted her own Limacia clavigera, they are really common down there.
Nathan walked right up to this stalked jellyfish, which was a lifer for me (I have only seen three species, all of which I saw at Falmouth in the first two days of this trip). This one is Halycistus octoradiatus with those odd tubercles at the base of the stubby tentacles. It's a rather sickly green colour too.
And this snail was quite the looker, we had one here and one at Silver Steps the following day. Raphitoma purpurea, yet another lifer.
The weather was glorious on that first day, so there was some chance for some spidering in Falmouth after, Ero aphana was popular and I managed three year ticks. I got sunburnt on the last day of March!
Now, I am well known for being pretty intense and having a lot of energy, but I had to look after my health on this trip and not start my field season in a state. So I only managed to go out on one night time session, the first night. After four hours sleep I was back out of the hotel wandering around the rocks but I was feeling really rough, so didn't make it all night. It was magic though!
Louis hoyed out a massive Lobster!
And it wasn't long before Nathan made the kind of sounds that can only mean he'd found something exciting. Now I only managed a rubbish shot in a pot, but this is Calma gobioophaga. This nudibranch only feeds on the eggs of gobies, and apparently the eyes of the tiny fish it eats on the eggs can be spotted in their serrata! Yolanda told me about these last year, so this was an exciting find for everyone!
Day 2 (technically). It's just gone midnight now and Nathan spotted these two Atalodoris pusilla sitting next to each other like a pair of slippers. My fifth nudi lifer of the trip.
Louis got me onto these tiny but gorgeous little sea slugs, also a lifer (but not a nudibranch). They look like something out of Pokemon, they were only a couple of mm long though. Like a cross between a stegosaurus, a flower and a slug - Placidia dentrica is not rare but it is friggin' awesome!
As usual, fish are out and about more at night so I was pleased to find my first Montagu's Sea Snail in years and this was a lifer for all the Bangor lot.
As it neared 1.00 am, I felt like death warmed up, so headed home. They only went and found two more nudis that I had not seen. This one is Okenia aspersa in blob mode. Nudi lifer number six! I think six more Babakina were found that night too!
Talk about starting with a bang! By this point though it feels like Day 4 when it's still only Day 2! We head to Silver Steps. Finley found a big patch of nudi eggs covered in Favorinus, and there was a speedy Facelina annulicornis there too. We picked this up last November but this is the first time I have got a half-decent shot if it. What an absolute stunner that is!
We had two more staked jellyfish in the same gully, neither were new for me but I love seeing these. Calvadosia cruxmelitensis.
And Calvadosia campanulata.
I found another Babakina. At least three were found that morning.
Now bear in mind it's April fool's day. I was just taking some shots of this when Finley yells that there is a report of Orca's swimming past the Lizard! It took us about ten minutes to realise the weight of what was happening before galavanising into action - just as Tylan had arrived, to see a wave of be-wadered rock-poolers running towards him. No, straight past him, to their cars! We all piled down to the Lizard (Tylan too) and about an hour later, this happened...
I love this shot of Yolanda's with the cliffs in too! Here are a couple of Nathan's. You could see the white behind the dorsal fin, even through my rubbish binoculars.
It was Finley who got onto them really quickly though, like in less than 5 minutes. Finley followed by myself likely to be the first people to see Orca and Rainbow Sea Slug in the same hour. Here's the prostrate form of me creating my own mud bath in excitement. Tylan here is wondering if its possible to suction sample an Orca.
Day 3. This was quite possibly my favorite day. Helford Passage from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm on the sandy Eel-grass and then Kynance Cove with Tylan and Paul from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm.
Auger Shells, three species of pipefish, cockles in numbers but it was this huge egg mass that got me excited, as I had never seen anything like it before. It turns out to be the egg mass of Pleurobranchus membranaceus. They had an adult after I left which I missed but the eggs were cool enough!
One nudibranch was everywhere - Amphorina andra. Now this might be something else entirely in the genus, we'll have to wait and see as Finley is going to get the DNA done one one but for the time being I am calling it that, will edit if there are changes. The orange form was most common.
And I had a few of these darker ones with mottled serrata. They really are quite stunning.
Then Yolanda caught a Nursehound with her bare hands! I have only ever seen the egg cases, so chuffed to see an adult.
Here's a Spiny Cockle.
And Finley showing three species together. Acanthocardia paucicostata (the small one - which I had there new to Cornwall in November). Spiny Cockle Acanthocardia aculeata on the right and Rough Cockle Acanthocardia tuberculataon the left. It's 2.00 pm and my alarm rings, so I have to leave everyone to head to Kynance!
It was just the three of us (Tylen Berry, Paul Gainey and myself). The weather was glorious. Now I am really here to year list spiders, bugs and rare plants! I ticked off Hairy Greenweed and Cornish Heath soon enough, along with Lousewort and Heath Milkwort. Choughs were everywhere.
Tylan found most of the rare spiders instantly! Gnaphosa occidentalis under the first rock. I spotted an adult male Aelurillus v-insignitis. Euophrys herbigradus was in every suction!
Ty found an adult female Porrhoclubiona genevensis. We had about 15 Thyme Lacebugs too. As we found Segestria bavarica as we were watching the Orcas the day before, that was pretty much the whole set. We went on to look for House Centipede under some rocks, it was fruitless but this tiny bug caught me eye. It's Taphropeltus hamulatus. A really scarce bug with only five records on the NBN, one of which is for Kynance! I have been looking out for this for years.
We scrambled down the slope for a few ants. Ponera testacea somehow appeared in one of Tylan's pots. Lasaeola prona ticked for the year when Ty found two rather odd looking crabbies. Now I see Ozyptila claveata all the time on the chalk, so I was sure they were not that. Ty sees Ozyptila blackwalli enough to know it wasn't that either. Could this be Ozyptila scabricula?! Indeed it was! Check out these perfect little gargoyles. Ty found another male too, these being the first in Cornwall since 1968 and an entirely new hectad. Mad for a site he works really hard, and it just goes to show no matter how hard you work a site, there are still treasures to be found! This is my 564th spider in the British Isles. I was not expecting a spider lifer this week.
Day 4: Winding now, one final trip to Tunnel Beach produced much of the same, but Finley was on fire with his small crustaceans, including pointing Vicky Barlow to search the mouth of a huge Spiny Spider Crab for a host-specific thing called Isaea montagui, what a bizarre creature.
I found a Topknot the size of my face.
When suddenly a report of a Killdeer comes in from the other end of the county! "Oh god, it's happening again" I hear Karen mutter. Another mad thing with 'kill' in the name to twitch. Scrambling up the rocks and piling into cars, and an hour later I am looking at my first Killdeer (thanks to Finley for the photo) in the same hour (nearly) as a Rainbow Sea Slug. Thanks to James for the lift (and for getting me back in time for the dinner we had planned, I arrived at the restaurant on time to the minute).
This has all been a bit rushed. I am starting field work in a couple of hours but if I didn't get this done today it wouldn't happen. There are likely some typos and errors in here, so please let me know. A HUGE thanks to everyone involved for sharing their finds and knowledge, a massive thanks to Finley and Nathan for organising stuff. Once again though, it's great seeing so many young people get as excited as I do when I see new things, it's absolutely awesome. More of this please!
Oh and a quick update on the 6000 Species Challenge! As of today I am on 1,756 species (29.3%). A couple of days ago I hit 1,000 inverts for the year (on 1,022) including 118 molluscs and 221 spiders. Yet, as the field season starts, the year-listing begins in earnest today!
This story starts some 16 years ago, in the early days of my blog. Here was my first attempt to look for Sloe Carpet. As you can see, I failed but last night thanks to Dave Green, I did not. I headed out into the wild West Weald of West Sussex for some dusking and we were soon 'sloe dancing' around country roads by torch light with our nets like a couple of burks.
I realise I have not done an update on the 6000 Species in 20226 challenge for ages. So as of last night I am now on 1,549 species for the year, that's 25.8%. I have really 'sloed' down in March (and late Feb) to focus on desk work and a kitchen renovation, but come early April this is all going to change.
The first moth we caught was this Scorched Carpet. Gorgeous and NFY (I didn't want to put the 6000 species in 2026 logo on the photo of the Sloe Carpet {sorry Scorched Carpet}).
There was a lot on the wing. A Chestnut, dozens of Shoulder Stripes and a Brindled Pug. Then I caught my first Streamer of the night. What a moth this is, another year tick and very abundant. Also, annoyingly similar to a Sloe Carpet in flight, so I had to catch them all to check.
Then a noctuid landed in the grass in front of me, it was only a Blossom Underwing! Another year tick.
A Hebrew Character and a Satellite were netted but the Sloe Carpet was remaining hard to get. Dave suggested walking down a different lane. The mad rush of moths dropped off and we hadn't seen a moth for about 15 mins. The temperature dropped rather a lot too, when I spotted another Streamer. I netted it, only to find it was a box fresh Sloe Carpet!!! A lifer. It was listed as Nationally Scarce in the 2019 review and is genuinely uncommon. Look at the three white buttons along the back of the thorax. This is my 1,322 moth in the British Isles, putting me in 11th place for moths on the PSL rankings.
One final look in the trap unblocked Clouded Drab (never been so excited to see this), Marbled Brown and Frosted Green. I love going out at night doing natural history with a torch, especially at this time of year. And netting moths on the wing is such a work out. All that happened in just 1.5 hours, I was home by 9.00 pm.
Here's a breakdown of my progress so far on the challenge...
My targets are reached for; protists, springtails, bristletails and bryophytes.
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, you can order my book all about pan-species listing here, directly from Pelagic.
Although I have had copies of the book for about a month now (and I had a great day at Adastra a couple of weeks ago by way of a 'soft launch' selling almost all of the books I had), publication day was not until today. I suppose that means I am officially an author (what's so strange is, I really hated English at school - I just wanted to do maths, science and art). Yet I am so pleased with how it has come out. It was an immense amount of work on top of an already busy life as an entomologist which has been tough at times. A big shout out to Rachel Hudson for that amazing cover and to everyone at Pelagic - but especially the editor David Hawkins. Here's a quick flick through I did a few weeks ago.
I have had a few people say this book is like no other natural history book they've read, I'm really happy with that, as I am quite different myself and this was exactly what I was going for. I have tried to do many different things with this book and I hope I have achieved at least some of them. They are...
It's a guide to pan-species listing
Kinda obvious really, it even says it on the cover.
I have tried to write a book that's useful to all naturalists - not just pan-species listers
I have tried to write a book that will appeal to as many naturalists as possible, with or without an interest in PSL. Obviously, there's loads of stuff about PSL, but about half of the book (around 200 pages) is an extensive section on how to access each of the taxonomic groups in detail. This includes what books to get, keys to use, online resources, societies, FB groups to join, kit you'll need etc. I also start each group and sub-group with how many species are listed and how difficult that group/subgroup is to tackle. I have factored these together to make an 'accessibility' score to give a guide on how accessible each of them are. I wanted to write something I would have found useful 30 years ago - I hope I have achieved that. The hints and tips section will also be of help to any naturalist and/or biological recorder. I've also detailed PSL survey methods I have come up with that are proving very useful in my work.
It's part biographical, peppered with personal anecdotes and daft picture captions
The book is also biographical to some extent. I set the scene early on how my life and career have been intrinsically entwined with natural history and use personal anecdotes throughout. I am not personally a fan of nature writing (I just wanna be outside) but if you are, I have tried to make this book as readable as possible and I have had a surprising number of people tell me they couldn't put it own and read in a couple of days (I really wasn't expecting that).
A guide to being a naturalist/biological recorder in 21st Century Britain
It's also a guide to be being a biological recorder/naturalist in the 21st Century in Britain. The world of natural history is changing rapidly, and I have tried to show how to navigate your way through this as best I can. As a Xennial (the Goonies generation) who had an analogue childhood and a digital adulthood, I am lucky enough to walk between these two worlds, which give me a useful viewpoint. I discuss some difficult topics like representation and make a stand on a series of subjects that I know and expect not everyone will agree with me on - and that is OK. Yet, I am having my say here, as I have some skin in the game and plenty of relevant experience, and feel like this stuff isn't being said.
I want this book to help other neurodivergent naturalists
The chapter on ND was the last to be added but is really important to me, and early feedback is showing that this is doing exactly what I had hoped. REALLY helping other such naturalists be 'seen' and feel less alone, while allowing NT people to understand their ND friends a little more.
Finally, with c200 colour photos, it's a joyous celebration of British wildlife
I have been told that my excitement and love for natural history pours off every page of this book and I was perosnally surprised at just how fantastic the final product looks, Pelagic really have put this together well.
It's all very strange for me, the kid from a council estate who hated English and didn't even think they were a real person until they their 30s, yet here they are with a book they are really proud of. Sending this off to my two childhood mentors (who I dedicated it too) was one of the happiest moments of my life.
Now I need to get back to PSL year listing, I am already on 1,420 species!!! Oh one last thing, I am doing a talk at Exeter Street Hall (opposite the Chimney House and just around the corner from me) next Wed night from 7.30 to 8.30 pm. Beers after!
As of today I am on 1,255 species (20.9%) in the first six weeks of the year (665 of which are inverts). The latest addition being a tiny Pseudeuophrys lanigera that was actually sitting on the edge of the key hole on my front door when I got back from training! Yesterday, we had a look around Swanbourne Lake, part of the Norfolk Estate. I was mainly looking inside old tussocks of Greater Tussock-sedge. They were insanely productive, the highlight being this adult female Donacochara speciosa which was new to West Sussex!
Before that though, I pulled over by a flooded field along the Arun just south of Arundel WWT. There were hundreds of Black-headed Gulls and I was hoping to get Med Gull, which I soon did. I wasn't then expecting to get 80 Cattle Egrets!!! Followed by Gadwall and finally...Greylag (?). That's Little, Great White and Cattle Egrets before I got Greylag Goose. I am out of touch with looking for birds though, here I am trying to get on to some distant swans. My top target on the PSL website for the year is now Pochard.
Other spiders NFY included Rugathodes instabilis, Panamomops sulcifrons, Antistea elegans, Hahnia nava and Gongylidiellum vivum. That's 190 arachnids and 176 spiders for the year. I just love these tussocks. Water-measuers, Drinkers, Glow-worms - they contain multitudes!
I found a couple of these odd looking dung beetles in the tussocks, it's the non-native saproxylic species called Saprosites mendax. I though this was a lifer but remembered catching one by hand in the park by my house a couple of years ago. Turns out Arundel Park is well known for it. Saw-sedge was a surprise too, apparently it has been introduced there for over 150 years.
I did get a couple of lifers in the tussocks though. The NR carabid Badister peltatus and the centipede Strigamia crassipes. I think this is the first time I have seen Rosy Woodlouse in a tussock.
I swear these tussocks move when you're not looking. I always imagine Jim Henson lives on in them.
I beat some Box and immediately got a rather nice moth tick, which I was really not expecting. The big micro Ypsolopha mucronella. But even better than that, Anthocoris butleri new for me and all of Sussex. This species only feeds on Box and as I rarely see it in any abundance, I have never seen the bug before. Four invert lifers, one species new to Sussex and another new to West Sussex was not what I was expecting! It pays to go to sites you don't normally visit. I think I only ever visited here once 12 years ago but remembered the Box and tussocks.
In other news. the garden actinic has been super quiet since a Dark Chestnut in January but earlier this week I had a Southern Green Shieldbug.
And I went bryologising again with the local group in what was at first awful weather (I greeted Brad with "I've gone bryologising by mistake"). It turned out to be a top day, and I got a few lifers. Ben also spotted one of my favourite mosses on the side of a ghyll. Hookeria lucens. I couldn't get any closer with my camera though. Wild Garlic, Opposite-leaved Golden-sax and a Dolichovespula mediaqueen were also NFY.
And that's my first target reached! I was aiming for 100 bryophytes for the year and with a little help, I have got to 107 species. So anything I can gain here I can take off my ridiculously high moth target of 850 species. Here's the totals so far...
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, two weeks today!!! You can order it here, directly from Pelagic. Getting some great feedback.
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.
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