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 had a break from social media for the last month. This was triggered by a period of feeling really unwell for a while, a trip to A&E after six hours of agonising stomach ache and nausea and a yellow eye (of course, I still went rock-pooling in the dark in gale in this state). I self-diagnosed gallstones and this was confirmed by an ultrasound at the hospital. A radical and rather rapid change in what and how I eat has been extremely successful but it was really scary at first. Every time I ate something it was like playing Russian roulette with my dinner. So the only way to play it was to eat the perfect diet. Not only have I not had a serious attack for nearly four weeks, but I actually feel healthier than I ever have! So I used that time to get my head down and write up a lot of reports.
So, back to 2025. This was a tough year to rank, there were so many red letter days last year. I love the pan-species listing approach to natural history, even 15 years into it (and 38 years since I made my first biological record) there are still countless encounters of amazing wildlife to see and record in the British Isles. So to celebrate that, with each of these ten I will also give a reason to get into pan-species listing. In reverse order then...
10). My first encounter with Eelgrass beds
Back in March, Mark Telfer took me to Seaview on the Isle of Wight where I saw my first Straight-nosed Pipefish! Also on that trip I found these things new to the Isle of Wight at Bembridge Ledges. Sarcodityon catenatum.
PSL pushes you outside your comfort zone into ever strange new worlds of natural history!
9). Surveying the farmland around Brighton
This is an ongoing project I am doing for BHCC. I found a population of Woolly Thistle, the first in Sussex for many years.
A population of Tettigometra virescens was new to Sussex! This is landscape is vitally important for biodiversity.
If you work anywhere hard enough and long enough with PSL, it will come up with the goods.
8). Completing pipefish on Helford Sound in Cornwall
I spent a great day with Finley Hutchinson down on some more Eelgrass beds just round the corner from Falmouth. Deep-snouted Pipefish was a highlight, as it was my sixth and final pipefish in the UK! Yet finding Acanthocardia paucicostata new to me (and Cornwall) was a real highlight!
Some of the best PSL days are when you don't have any targets and you just find what you find.
7). The arable margins of the Norfolk Estate
This might have been the sixth year I have monitored these same eight margins, but in 2025 they were rocket fuel for migrants and recent colonists. I love living on the south coast! The first confirmed breeding of Carporcoris purpureipennis in the UK was great and a lifer for me!
Yet I think finding my first ever Small Marbled was my highlight.
PSL is all about the long game. PSL definitely works best the earlier you start and as such, you could play this game for your whole life!
6). My third trip to Jersey
Now, I have to say it's testament to the following five highlights that Jersey rockpools are not higher up this list! A huge thanks to Nicolas Jouault for showing us around the marine habitats of the island. He was so generous with his time and I learnt so much from him. I was so glad to be there when he found Discodoris rosi new to the island.
This absolute unit is Dendrodoris limbata. In fact, 2025 was the year of the nudibranch for me. I have seen 35 species so far in my life, ALL of which I also saw in 2025.
The main PSL listing area is 'Britain, Ireland, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands' and it's important to state we are not a recording platform. PSL is something you do as well as recording, not instead of.
5). Praying Mantis on the Isle of Wight
Seeing these breeding Praying Mantis with Mark Telfer was an absolute dream come true, this is probably the only twitch I did last year! In a normal year this should been number 1!
That evening, Karen I went to Bembridge Ledges and found this mollusc new to the island! Galeomma turtoni.
No PSL twitch ever happens in a vacuum. Even if you do dip, there's always a plan B...
4). Oh gawd this is getting tough now! You know it's an insane year when Rainbow Sea Slug isn't even in the top three!
It was a dream come true seeing three Rainbow Sea Slugs down at Falmouth with a whole bunch of keen PSLers, rockpoolers and naturalists.
It would seem you can't go out rockpooling at Falmouth now without seeing Spurilla neopolitana now too! Insane considering it only turned up in September.
PSL is about collaboration and cooperation, we all help each other out. If you have focused on the competitive side, you have totally missed the point. There are no losers in this game.
3). Meeting a whole bunch of brilliant Gen Z naturalists at Menai (and their sea slugs)
Meeting Nathan, Yolanda, Cameron and friends under Menai bridge several times this year was amazing, as well as seeing loads of amazing nudibranchs they have given me hope for the future! They're already brilliant naturalists, I am glad they've caught the PSL bug too! Here is Trinchesia cuanensis.
And Coryphella lineata. Just a few of the amazing beasts they showed me!
PSL is a really sociable way to do natural history. Yes, you can do it on your own but it's more fun to share some of it at least, some of the time and I have made a lot of great friends along the way.
2). Two days snorkelling on The Ecrehous
Thanks to Nicolas Jouault again, I had an amazing two days snorkelling on the uninhabited islands between Jersey and France. Black-faced Blennies were the commonest fish!
And this bonkers looking crustacean, Axius stirhynchus was a real highlight. I couldn't get out of the water. Amazing considering not two years ago I was frightened of putting my face in the water!
PSL breakdowns barriers and encourages you to be fearless - whether tackling a new group or jumping face first into a rockpool!
1). Finding Aulonia albimana on the Isle of Wight with Mark Telfer
This was the first record of Aulonia albimana in the UK in 40 years! It was a very exciting day and led to me sitting on the sofa on BBC Breakfast. The story got amazing coverage, I did six interviews and I think something like 70 media outlets ran the story!
The morning after we found the spider, at 5.00 am I went down to Bembridge Ledges and found another new nudibranch for me, it was only the second record for the island! Trapania tartanella!
PSL is great fun, it's exciting, it opens doors. Literally anything can happen at any time. So why not sign up now? It's free and the 1st January is a great time to start something new.
A quick update on the book. Publication has been put back a little to the 26th February! Not long now, you can pre-order it here.
Now it's time to start my 2026 challenge, to see 6,000 species over the year! I have seen a Human so far, so I better get to work! Yo can follow my progress on the website, only 5,999 species to go. Happy listing!
I just had a quick break on the Isle of Wight before my field season started and it's amazing how much things have changed for me in just two short years. For a start, I planned the entire trip to coincide with the big low spring tides. I could not pull myself away from the coast. I barely did any terrestrial recording and my hands were barely out of the water. Two years ago though, my back was so bad, I could not have coped with turning that many rocks day-after-day, or netted that much sea weed. That's all in the past now.
I have felt my attention being pulled away from the land to the sea over the course of the last year, writing the book played a part in this but the main culprit is the unrelenting lure of the nudibranchs! On this trip I found two more species for my list, bringing me up to 14 species for the British Isles. We spent a lot of time with Mark Telfer and family in the rock pools, and probably spent more time at Bembridge Ledges than anywhere else. I absolutely loved that site, so many turnable rocks! First up was Palio nothus, a a really small green nudibranch that I only found by sweeping Wireweed and then sorting through the contents in a tray. Close-focus binoculars really help here as these things are tiny.
You really can see how small this is next to a Pheasant Shell above.
The other cracker was Amphorina farrani which I saw at Bembridge and Freshwater Bay, again by sweeping Wireweed and sorting through the material.
At Freshwater Bay, using the same method, I also found St. John's Jellyfish Calvadosia cruxmelitensis! This is only the second time I have seen a stalked jellyfish that I have got to species.
There's always so much going on in rock pools that I just don't have a clue about, I dismissed this thing as a barnacle scar but Mark looked at it under the hand lens and it's clearly alive. I needed some help on this one from the Porcupine Marine Natural History Society, as I would never have realised this was actually a bryozoan! Plagioecia patina.
And I figured this might have been some kind of a coral, but I was really surprised to find out that this is a young Deadman's Fingers Alcyonium digitatum! Look what this becomes (the second photo is from over a decade ago during a SxIFCA fish survey).
And I found this on the first night. A stoloniferan, a type of cnidarian. Amazingly just as I found this the marine biologist Roger Herbert appeared out of nowhere and helped me confirm this as Sarcodityon catenatum.
On the way back to the shore, we found a rock pool that was full of Aeolidiella alderi, there was five under one rock! This is the 3rd nudibranch of the trip.
And in the same rockpool was an adult Aeolidia philomenae. This was huge! Four or five times bigger than all the other ones I have seen. The fourth nudi of the trip.
Here is Bembridge Ledges itself at dawn...
Then for something really exciting; an entirely new habitat for me. Eel-grass or see-grass beds! We went to Seaview and met up with local expert Theo Vickers. I found a couple of new fish for me, Painted Goby and this Straight-nosed Pipefish, putting me at top fish lister on the PSL site! This green pipefish is a real eel-grass specialist. It's about 11 years since I was briefly joint top fish lister last — PSL is all about the long game.
Also there were these Peacock Fanworms Sabella pavonina, another lifer! Really common there.
And a few really large Hairy Hermit Crabs Pagurus cuanensis.
This absolute unit of a Sea Hare!
Loads of these King Scallops.
And the fifth nudibranch of the week, Acanthodoris pilosa. Found floating upside down in the incoming tide.
Look at this incredibly strange habitat! I absolutely loved it there.
And just because I can, here is some Tim Buckley.
Don't panic though, although I am about to buy a wetsuit and get into snorkelling, I have not forsaken dry land and grown gills just yet. Just yesterday, I found a super rare spider at Graffham Common and a beetle new to Sussex but that is a story for another day...
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