I haven't posted a longer update here in a while of my '6000 species in 2026' pan-species year-listing challenge, as I have been doing more daily updates on Instagram/Facebook. I thought an end of June update would be a good thing, the 'half way' stage in the challenge (actually not quite, as there are 184 days between 1st July and 31st December). Anyways, I ended 30th June on 3,840 species for the year (64.0% of the challenge complete). I am about 850 species ahead of where I would be if I were to add 16.4 species a day, every day (exactly the number I would need to reach 6,000 on the nose). Of course, that's already out of date (I am on 3,862 species - 64.4%). On the 30th June I was working at Heyshott Down, doing a plant survey, where I added Marsh Fragrant-orchid and Musk Orchid to the year list (along with Goshawk).
This is a really fun challenge but I certainly won't be doing it every year. Almost everything I am adding at the moment is from work and moth trapping. I am not looking at any specimens until after September. I had planned to go to Scotland in the last week of June but various things conspired against me, but I did have a few days out instead. A day trip to the Cambridgeshire fens with Peter Sutton was great fun. I finally got to see Reed Leopard!
And this aptly named Lister's River Snail! What an absolutely beautiful aquatic snail this is.
Wait, the top of that snail looks familiar? Oh yeah, it's the poop emoji!
And of course, the star of the show - the rather rare Agabus undulatus!
I have seen lots of new stuff already this year, 235 species to be precise! That's 1.30 species per day. I am only 53 species away from the mythical 10,000 species for my PSL life list, something that will likely now happen in late August. Everything in the following collage I have seen new in the first half of 2026.
One of the interesting things about this challenge is how how it has changed my behaviour. Now, we had an epic trip to Cornwall rock-pooling at the end of March/start of April. This was so good, that it has sort of ruined rock-pooling for me in Sussex. You have to work really hard here to find new things, as such I have only been out once since. Meanwhile, two or my largest target taxa are vascular plants (with a 1,050 species target) and moths (with a 850 target). Now beetles are my highest target (I have set myself a ludicrous 1,200 species) and although a lot of these are field identifiable, a huge number are also sitting in alcohol waiting to be identified over the winter. Not so with moths and vascular plants. They're both great groups to add yo your list as the year progresses. As such, I have really got back into these groups, especially moth trapping, dusking and going out at night. I have even really been enjoying gen detting moths. It's also a really great way to do recording when you are already busy! As well as a great way to cool off during a heatwave - go nocturnal! Nothing has been more exciting though than netting an Eastern Bordered Straw at Hurston Warren at the start of that invasion (before my feed was saturated with other people's pictures of them), what a moth!
After 137 days I matched my first incarnation of my pan-species list. That was 2,748 species that once took me 32 years to accumulate. In other words, it took me 137 days to match what once took me 11,795 days! I can't think of any better way to show the power of the pan-species listing approach than this! I should add I have never once used AI to identify anything and never will, you can read more about that in my book!
Anyways, here's where I am at with each taxa. I have reached my targets for protists, other animals, annelids, sea-spiders, crustaceans, springtails, 3-taled bristletails, fish, amphibians, cnidarians and bryophytes. I am getting very close on mammals, molluscs and butterflies.
This chart is interesting, you can see the rapid growth of the list in January that then flattens out in Feb and Mar where I became increasingly desk bound. Then the field season started at the start of April, from this point on I am adding species at a very consistent rate, around 24 species a day!
So I thought I would pull out the ten most speciose taxa and chart them in the same way (the other 28 taxa are displayed as 'others' here in dark blue - the fourth line down). Vascular plants (mid blue) are in the lead for now, but could well be over taken by beetles and/or moths. Beetles (orange) show a vert similar pattern to the vascular plants. Moths have REALLY ramped up in the last six weeks, storming past bugs, spiders and more. Moth trapping can add dozens of species a day (of course, the by-catch is significant too) but my garden actinic is typically one or two new species a night (so I have taken to trapping with my MV at my old place of work, Southerham). The two steep pulses below (the grey line) represent the madness of the two heat waves. Spiders (yellow) started hard but plateaued. This is because most spiders I couldn't field ID are waiting for me to look at over the winter. Bugs (in light blue) are likely to overtake spiders at some point. Flies, birds, hymenopterans, molluscs and bryophytes all cluster together, but with flies just nudging into 6th place (in green).
Will I make it? Sure, I think so. Burn out is something I just don't get, I love it all too much! I would love to get to 6,000 by the end of the year, with specimens further adding to the total as I process them from Jan to Mar next year. Fungi season in the autumn will surely add a few hundred species too. I still haven't seen a Dunlin, Grey Plover, Goldeneye, Goosander or Pink-footed Goose! An autumn trip to Norfolk is on the cards for sure.
If you want to get into pan-species listing, you can sign up to our website for free here www.panspecieslisting.com. And it's well worth getting my book, which has already gone to reprint! https://pelagicpublishing.com/products/pan-species-listing.And please do consider sponsoring me for this challenge, I am raising funds to help Sussex Wildlife Trust manage their land. My Just Giving page is here.
I'll be at Global Birdfair the weekend after next, so come and find me. Will do another post on that in the next few days.
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 tuberculata on 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!
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