Yep! That's an Aulonia albimana spiderling, a Critically Endangered/Nationally Rare and rather odd little wolf spider that no one has ever digitally photographed in the UK, as it was last seen here 40 years ago in 1985! Madonna's "Like a Virgin" was in the charts the last time this was seen here. So how on Earth did we managed to find it? Well, like all such adventures it started with a hunch. Mark Telfer has a 'Species Recovery Project' contract this year, lead by the National Trust and funded by Natural England. Part of the brief was to try and find Aulonia albimana. It has only ever been found at three disparate sites in England (check out the SRS page here) but the Isle of Wight site is on MOD land and furthermore, has scrubbed over. Making it simultaneously not worth visiting and nearly impossible to get to. This spider seems to like short, bare areas with broken turf. Which may be dry or recently wet - it's not all that clear.
When I was over at the end of August to see the mantises, I offered to come out for the day with all batteries fully charged but spending over half of September in rockpools chasing nudibranchs, it ended up drifting into October. Yet my theory was that in early autumn, there are always loads of wolf spiders in the suction sampler. They are typically sub-adult Pardosa that are mostly impossible to identify but hugely outnumber the adults they become the following spring (after a winter of being whittled down in nature's great reality TV show elimination process). Yet Aulonia is very different to all other wolf spiders here. It's in a genus of its own. It's tiny (3-4 mm as an adult) and it's odd looking: It's gracile with orange legs (except the front femora are contrastingly black) and most famously of all, it has white 'knuckles' to the palps. All of these features are clearly evident in immatures (which Roberts also states), so we didn't need to find an adult to prove this species is still present. This was an epic long shot - we were about 2 km from where it was last seen but I was buoyed up by a successful British Arachnological Society trip to Wicken Fen at the weekend and on a roll. And I do love an epic long shot. I almost forgot, Mark had another target; the saltmarsh wolfie Arctosa fulvolineata.
Any day in the field that requires two boat rides (although my first was a ferry) has to produce something memorable. Especially as it was dead calm, mild, with not a drop of dew and with more sun than forecast. As perfect as you could get for a field day in October. We were kindly shuttled out by the NT Harbour Master to this tiny area called Brickfields in Newtown Harbour. You can't get there directly due to the MOD firing range. Here's Mark and Jo Hodgkins (Mark's wife and NT advisor) as we head out to Brickfields. After a 15 minute boat ride, were unloaded at a narrow wooden jetty.
It was about 10.00 am. We had to be back at the jetty promptly at 2.00 pm. The clock was ticking.
T-MINUS 240 MINUTES
The narrow shore line was littered with old bricks. "This looks perfect for Arctosa fulvolineata" I said. I got turning, I had turned about 10 bricks when Mark turned his first one and found it! New to the island and a rare beast in its own right (Nationally Rare, Near Threatened & Section 41). It's going to be one of those days then (I turned another 60 bricks and nothing)! Amazing how these things cope with twice daily inundation during these big tides at least. The intergrade between habitats is remarkable here; saltmarsh, scrub, ancient woodland, grassland, soft rock cliffs and damp Wood Small-reed clumps all occur on a postage stamp size area of land. We got the vacs out along the southern upper saltmarsh edge. Hundreds of Silometopus ambiguus peppered the sampling trays. Nationally Scarce but pretty common on saltmarshes. I vac'd an immature Liocranoeca striata (also Nationally Scarce), and last seen on the island 40 years ago. Here's the Arctosa.
And one of Mark's shots of it. Look at that beast!
Heading inland, we walked into this strange looking meadow. It had clearly been grazed quite well at some point this year. I first thought it was tightly grazed chalk-grassland but a closer look revealed, as well as species like Knapweed, Burnet-saxifrage and Yellow-wort, there were lots of old meadow species too. Chiefly Saw-wort, Pepper-saxifrage and a bit of Dyer's Greenweed. Here's some of Jo's photos (as usual, I forget to take any landscape shots or shots of us surveying).
We vac'd a little but were mostly finding lots of Pardosa (mainly young Pardosa nigriceps), Alopecosa pulverulenta and a few Pisaura mirabilis. Hahnia nava was abundant too but there was little else here. Round the corner, a scrubbier ungrazed version of the same grassland type tempted us.
We found a few nice things here but it didn't feel right to me for Aulonia. We had Myrmarachne formicaria (Nationally Scarce but well represented on the Isle of Wight), Clubiona diversa, and some typically more wetland species. Mark vac'd two Crustulina sticta here (Nationally Scarce) that were new to the Isle of Wight. We only had about an hour left. We headed to some north facing, partly vegetated soft tock cliffs.
T-MINUS 60 MINUTES
The sun was out by now but we didn't find a lot. What was there was interesting though. I spotted a young Wood Cricket and a Lesne's Earwig. Mark vac'd an interesting Leiodes but the spiders beyond the large young Pardosa and immature Myrmarachne there were thin on the ground. We had about 20 minutes left so I thought I would vac the meadow hard.
T-MINUS 20 MINUTES
I was finding just the same species as before but I hadn't given up. By this point we were at the southern end of the meadow, within shouting distance of the jetty. Time was running out!
T-MINUS 9 MINUTES
Mark and Jo headed back to the jetty to get ready, I was determined to keep going up to the bitter end. There in the vac was a thin, black bodied and yellow-egged spider moving like a wolfie but not much bigger than Hahnia nava. Could it be? I had fought really hard all day to keep my search image focused not on wolf spiders like Pardosa but for something small like a Hahnia or Micaria - it payed off. I got it in a tube had a closer look. There were those pale palpal 'knuckles'. "MAAAAAAARRRRRK!!!" I yelled. Here is the first ever digital photo of Aulonia albimana taken in the UK!
T-MINUS 5 MINUTES
With one shoe on and one shoe off, Mark "Diddle Diddle Dumpling" Telfer came hurtling into the meadow. I was shaking with excitement at this point and barely coherent. Uncontrollable laughter erupted from all persons. But we had five minutes left. No time to waste chuckling like fools! I had one more chance to vac this end of the meadow. I only went and found another one!
T-MINUS 1 MINUTE
I could hear the outboard approaching but there was another immature in the tray, time for a few quick snaps! That has to be the best spider find of my life. Utterly stoked.
My hasty attempt at a habitat shot as we dived over the style into the boat.
WOW, that was an intense end to an awesome day in the field. So here's where we were in relation to the last place it was seen 40 years ago, some 1.86 km away. It could well be in all such suitable habitat in this area.
Here are some better shots of mine.
And a great shot Mark took down the microscope. That pale area on the palp clearly visible here. I suggest we give this spider the common name White-knuckled Wolf Spider for more reasons than one!
My 559th spider in the British Isles and probably the best one of them all. White-knuckle, high-octane arachnological gold dust on a biblical scale. Now I did go on to do two low tides before I left the island the following morning, but in the interests of staying on message, I will talk about the awesome new nudibranch I found some other time. It made the whole 24 hours just magical.
What I love about this record is that it only happened through collaboration and lots of things coming together. Mark's hunch, his contract and the fact he moved to the island, Jo's work with the NT and my stubbornness and relentless energy all came together to make this happen. Add in that ticking clock to make that one of the most memorable four hours of my natural history life! Thanks for letting me tag along Mark! If you ever a hunch, no matter what the odds are, just go for it - 99% of this game is just turning up.
Firstly, if you didn't read the last two I did about Menai Bridge, have a look here before reading on. OK, so how on Earth did I add eight more nudibranchs to my list over two days recently? The answer: some incredibly talented Gen Z naturalists who were the real stars of the show. But before we get to them, here's some nudibranchs (I'll come back to the showy Trinchesia cuanensis later).
The first rock I turned had several Coryphella gracilis under it (yet this wasn't entirely down to chance, I was guided to this particular small area of rocks). This species I found on my own there back in July, love that orange.
Seconds later, Cameron Wilkins (who has especially sharp eyes and a great deal of patience) found a Coryphella lineata, lifer no. 1 of the trip! I soon found my own. I think this was my favourite species. A shade redder than gracilis but there is not much in it and they do vary. Those white lines though!
Now Yolanda Evans is an absolute wonder. She has amassed an incredible amount of knowledge on nudibranchs and many other marine groups...all by the age of 20. Her passion for all living things, especially those in the sea, is a joy to witness and is close to my own heart. Sadly for us, her partner Nathan (who I was in regular contact planning this weekend) was abroad for all the low tides featured here but we did get to meet briefly in the dunes at Rhosneigr. Anyways, back to the nudibranchs.
Yolanda found this little coconut-toastie-of-a-sea-slug, it's Onchidoris bilamellata. Quite a common species over the winter apparently but a new one for me. Lifer no. 2!
And then something I was super pleased to see, as it's a big genus that I have not met yet. Doto coronata. What a superb thing! Those cerata are mental. Lifer no. 3, thus concluding the first evening's antics.The next morning we headed back down and had a look for some fish on the water's edge but we didn't see anything like what they saw 24 hours earlier. My mate Simon came along too, the pair of us representing and book-ending the Gen X brigade. The photos of Humans (Homo sapiens) were taken by our resident Boomer, Mark Colvin. Ultimately it was Mark that got me onto the site, so a big thanks to him for starting all this. Well, to be fair showing Mark his first nudi at Ovingdean earlier this year also helped. One thing is for sure, lots of different people sharing their passion and knowledge for natural history both online and in the field is what is so vitally important at allowing us to connect. And a great deal of fun too. These are all my kind of people, my tribe!
Shortly after this I found my 4th nudi lifer of the trip. Aeolidiella glauca. Very close to Aeolidiella alderi which I see commonly away from Sussex (we had one on the first night even). The white collar is much less distinct than it is on alderi, the rhinophores and tentacles lack any hint of yellow pigment and the clincher - gold flecks on the back of the animal in the bare area between cerata. Having seen dozens of alderi in the last two years, I did think this was glauca straight away. The black box by the way is a great idea, I have even edited my book to reflect just a little of what I learned on the trip!
Here's me and Yolanda searching the rocks. Both Yolanda and Cameron, as well as having incredible eyesight and patience, have this uncanny ability to fold almost in half. Even at 18 I had back issues and couldn't do that, I can just about get to 90 degrees look. The only way I am getting that close to the rocks is if they rolled me out on a skate board! Being that close to the rocks clearly really helps though!
Yolanda showed us this parasitic crustacean on Edible Crab. Always wanted to see one of these, I didn't realise they were host specific but it's kind of obvious when you think about it. They have a really strange life cycle. This one is Sacculina inflata. "Where is it in relation to that sponge-like thing?" I hear you say? "It IS that sponge-like thing", I say! Yep, that is a crustacean.
Then Yolanda found this tiny dorid (which was fully grown) on orange encrusting bryozoans, which it feeds on, and it seems to be a fairly scarce one as it was only the second time she's seen it. My photos came out terribly, so you'll have to spot it here. Nudi lifer no. 5 was Atalodoris sparsa.
That evening, we were again accompanied by Cameron who was finding nudis faster than I could photograph them. First up one Ancula gibbosa. One of the white ones with yellow flecks but much smaller and differently-proportioned than Polycera. It liked hunching up in 'blob form', so again I have some not very good photos of it in a white tray but you can at least see the detail of the rhinophores here. New nudibranch no. 6!Then, the awesome Tricnhesia cuanensis. Cameron spotted three! Love those 'fishing float' cerata. New nudi no. 7! I mean, just look at it!!!
Last but not least, the more subtle Tenellia foliata. Eight new nudibranchs in two days. I feel utterly spoilt. I am now on 30 species of nudibranch, all 30 of which I have seen in 2025. It doesn't end there though. We did a fair bit of terrestrial stuff too, where I got to show everyone some spiders, we found some really nice stuff and I was amazed at how good Nathan, Cameron and Saffron (Cameron's partner who joined us later in the weekend) were on terrestrial stuff too. I am glad that they're all on PSL now, even if it means me being pushed down to third place for nudibranchs. Saffron got me on to my first Risso's Dolphin near South Stack!
The last night we did a bit of wading in the straits at low tide, by torch. Here's Mark and I not in any way posing for the camera.
We had about ten species of fish. Yolanda was on fire (not literally) and was hoying out all sorts of stuff. Including this massive Short-spined Sea Scorpion.
And we caught a Greater Pipefish each.
Yolanda caught this crustacean, which I think was Processa edulis, yet another new species for me.
I found these strange colonial tunicates growing on some as yet unidentified jelly like stuff, hanging down under an overhanging rock. I believe the tunicates are the invasive Perophora japonica.
And finally I found this Rayed Artemis (Dosinia exoleta). Yet another new mollusc for me, helping me to claw back my title of top mollusc lister on PSL. I doubt I will hold it for long though!
What an amazing three days! A huge thank you to everyone involved but especially to Yolanda, Cameron, Nathan and Saffron. It gives me great hope for the future that such passionate and talented young naturalists are doing all this work in their own time and reaping the benefits already. I have no doubt they will all go on to great things soon and the world of PSL is richer for their involvement too.
I miss the sea already :(
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