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.
Are you doing a degree in biology, zoology, marine biology, ecology & conservation or something similar? Then Biodiversity Challenge might be for you.
Imagine two students, one has a first class degree in ecology and conservation, the other has the same but leaves university with the ability to identify 2,851 species. Which one is likely more employable in a conservation ecology role? Biodiversity Challenge is about setting yourself an achievable target (say something like 1,000, 2,000 or even 3,000 species beyond where you are starting from - you set your target) and using the Pan-species Listing approach to British natural history to reach that target by the end of your time at your university. It's that simple.
You should aim to do it at a rate where you can assimilate the knowledge as you go, if you rush through it using AI on most things, you're only going to cheat yourself and is missing the point. The idea is to use the PSL website and all that free time during your degree to build a sound knowledge base of British natural history that you can then put on your CV. I wish I had been able to do pan-species listing at university. We live in a golden age of natural history, it's never been easier to identify things than it is now due to all of the amazing field guides and keys being published, along with all the online resources and Facebook groups that connect us all together.
Here's how to get involved:
1). Sign up to the free Pan-species Listing website here www.panspecieslisting.com. Set up your life list using the PSL location of: "Britain, Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands (PSL)", you won't be able to take part in Biodiversity Challenge if you don't set this as the location for your life list.
2). Tick off any species you have already seen or start from scratch. Biodiversity Challenge isn't about things you only see on your campus or during your time at university, your PSL life list is a long term effort to find and record as much wildlife in the British Isles as you can over the course of your life. We are not a recording platform though, generally in Great Britain we encourage you to use iRecord for submitting records of everything you tick off on PSL but other recording platforms might be more relevant in your country/county/region.
3). Add your list to your university by clicking on 'view lists' on the drop down menu, then select 'view communities'. You can filter the list of communities by 'higher education'. What you are looking at here are the rankings of the collective totals for each university.
Either join the relevant community/university or if it's not there, create it yourself (please remember to assign all universities to the community type of 'higher education'). Stick to the official title of your university so that others can find it easily. Anyone can join any community.
4). Click on your university to see the full species list, then click on the 'view base list rankings' icon.
This will take you to the rankings within your university, Bangor University rankings looked like this at the time of writing.
5). Degree, masters, PhD, post doc and university staff all count (we encourage lecturers to get involved too) but the idea of these rankings is that when you finish university, you should leave the community. That way, the next wave of students have the opportunity to reach the number one spot (albeit only temporarily).
6). Get out there and get pan-species listing, you never know where it might take you by the end of your degree. You could even set up a PSL group at your university. Have a look if there is a PSL group active within your region/county too, we are a sociable lot and always happy to help the next generation of naturalists. It's fun, worthwhile and a great source of dopamine! Although you leave the community at the end of your course, ideally you'll maintain your pan-species list throughout your whole life. After 16 years of PSL, I have just recorded my 10,000th species!
Louis Tapster of Unorthodox Sketch created the artwork for this, which I absolutely love (the collective totals shown are entirely random and are meant as an example only). We record across 38 different taxonomic groups in Pan-species Listing (not just the eight examples shown here). There's lots more information about what PSL is all about on the website here. For a deeper dive, you could also read my book, which you can buy straight from Pelagic here (you can get a 25% discount after you have signed up to the website).
Finally, please do remember this is about building a sound knowledge base and not just about ticking things off a list. Go at a rate that you are comfortable with, record everything as you go, teach your fellow students (and they'll help you in turn) and only use AI when you've exhausted all other options - picture matching and keying out are vital skills to learn to become a good naturalist and help you retain that hard won identification knowledge. There are some brilliant Gen Z naturalists already coming out of university with thousands of species under their belts, the approach really does work.
16:04 - Harry Witts: "I don't think I would ever recognise a grasshopper new to Britain".
16:07 - Harry Witts: "GRAEME! Bring a big net! I think I have a new grasshopper!"
So yeah, here's Sphingonotus caerulansSlender Blue-winged Grasshopper - photographed by Joss Carr. It's very likely the first record of this species to naturally arrive on our shores. So how on Earth did I find myself in such a position not a month after the Verge Cricket madness?
Well, this story isn't about me, it's about the fantastic contingent of Gen Z naturalists who are making big waves in the British natural history world - many of whom are doing so using the pan-species listing approach to natural history. Two such naturalists are Harry Witts and Joss Carr. In the last couple of years, Harry has come out and shadowed me on a few different surveys in Kent and Sussex and this summer Joss has set up some fantastic PSL field meetings in London, many of which I have attended and enjoyed - they are both smashing it! PSLers are (in most parts) a sociable bunch. As I have said for years, it's not really competitive, it's collaborative and we all learn from each other. Pushing each other up not down. PSL is all about breaking down barriers and shoving gatekeeping into the history books. I always had this belief that if I had started PSLing in my teens, it would have fast-tracked me into being a more knowledgeable naturalist at an earlier age. It genuinely does just that, and now there is a growing number of super-capable young naturalists out there, many of which I hope will end up working in the conservation sector and many who already are.
After coming out with me for the day at Blean in April, Harry offered to return the favour by spending a weekend in Essex in August. Harry also invited Joss Carr, as not two weeks earlier they had had a brilliant day out at our destination - Colne Point, even finding Geocoris megacephalus new to Britain there (I had this bug new to Jersey in 2024). This is a coastal SSSI managed by Essex Wildlife Trust.
Colne Point is a sensitive site, with Harry arranging access to survey it through his work. It's pretty dangerous too, you can easily get cut off an a really high tide if you are not careful.
Of course, I wanted some lifers (I was hoping for Ground Lackey in the evening) but was also keen to get some year ticks for the 6000 Species Challenge. Dittander, Golden-samphire, Hog's Fennel and Shrubby Sea-blite were all year-ticked from the car! The first invert of the day was Clouded Yellow. Literally anything could happen...and it did.
First lifer of the day was the tiny picture wing Myopites eximia. This fly galls Golden-samphire.
And in the same first sweep, the first of many of the saltmarsh form of Rhysodromus histrio. This weirdly yellow form is incredibly different to the heathland one, I am amazed it's not a different species. Much less contrasting but clearly the same shape.
The first vac had this metallic purple beauty in it! The sea-lavender feeding Pseudaplimonus limonii. I rarely see this weevil as we have so little saltmarsh in Sussex. So little in fact, that I was getting year tick after year tick.
I got another lifer in the form of the long overdue Dun Sentinel Assiminea grayana! It seems to be really common on saltmarsh on the Thames Gateway and Essex coasts, despite being Nationally Scarce. Pleasingly proportioned.
Joss was on fine form with hoppers as per usual and has found some really significant county firsts there. As we headed to the shingle, I spotted a very large bee fly, which we think has to be Dune Villa Villa modesta. Here's one of Harry's record shots before we missed it with our nets. That's another long overdue lifer for me.
By the time we hit the shingle, Geocoris megacephalus was pretty much the commonest insect! Around this time Harry pulled two immature Heliophanus from his pocket he'd found on a previous visit. The abdomens were covered in golden and copper-coloured hairs but with no white spots. Harry thought they were likely Heliophanus auratus and I was inclined to agree. We knelt down and almost immediately Harry spotted an adult male Heliophanus running around on the shingle. I got hold of it and was happy to confirm this as an adult male Heliophanus auratus! My 565th spider in the British Isles. Here's the adult male, the legs are tri-coloured, while the abdomen is covered in dense shiny hairs that gives it a very distinct appearance. I went on to sieve another from Marram nearby but we didn't get any in the sucker.
Here's those two incredible immatures.
I also recorded Zelotes longipes - my first away from Jersey!
It's now 16:04 and things are about to get interesting.
I leg it over to where Harry is just 10 m away and he soon gets me on to an unusual orthopteran. There is talk of blue wings but the animal I am looking at looks nothing like the Blue-winged Grasshoppers Oedipoda caeruelscens I know well from Jersey. Smaller, slimmer, less contrasty, differently-coloured and with seemingly proportionally longer wings. I have a good side view with my close focus bins and the thing that struck me was the constricted neck and raised head. I think I exclaimed "It looks like a locust!".
Here's Harry's shots taken at a safe distance. This really captures the moment for me.
Quite hard to spot, isn't it? Until it flies!
I heavily cropped Harry's shot here to show the view I had through my bins, showing that oddly-positioned head.
I attempted to get it in the net but it crawled out from under it and flew. Long-winged but with very pale blue (almost white) hindwings. Again, quite unlike Blue-winged Grasshopper. It also flew quite some distance for a grasshopper, but we sprinted after it relocating it almost instantly among the shingle. I wish someone could have filmed it, it felt like comedy gold as we 'moved as one' as Harry described it. I soon had my hands on it and transferred it to the dirtiest pot in the entomological world - at least we were not going to lose it now and could get some record shots of that hind wing indoors.
I was utterly convinced this was some other species of grasshopper with blue wings. Joss had found a candidate on his phone, read out the differences and tracked down a 2024 record on the Eurostar tracks at Folkstone on iNaturalist before I had even unlocked my phone (how do Gen Z work their phones so quickly?). Anyways, I was pretty sure we had nailed the ID with Sphingonotus careulans. I called Peter Sutton up straight away. As if all the Verge Cricket/Praying Mantis/Blue-winged Grasshopper madness wasn't enough!
The next day, Joss got a shot of the hind wing and the lovely shot at the top of this post. Soon after Peter Sutton confirmed our ID was correct.
And here's me, Joss and Harry enjoying the sunset as we wait to do a bit of dusking.
I spotted this Ray's Knotgrass on the beach.
Harry found Armadillidium album under some logs. He was on fire!
Dusking wasn't the greatest but we did see lots of Sandhill Rustics, which I have not seen since before Joss was born.
And then we called in on the way back to look for Agonopterix putridella - which Harry spotted! A super-rare micro that only feeds on Hog's Fennel! What a day. Utterly unforgettable.
Time for Bob Dylan to provide the sound track for my pensive conclusion...
Our invertebrate fauna becomes more continental by the day, mostly down to man-made climate change, with species colonising our shores almost as fast we can write them down. Furthermore, that rate of change is increasing, it's as if we are heading towards an 'entomological singularity' if you will. This leads me to a state of cognitive dissonance, where I feel both joy and terror simultaneously at seeing these novel species. I want both more of them AND less of them. It's vital that we record them though. So lots of keen eyes on the ground is essential in all of this.
However, the great news is, I think that the young PSLers are doing a great job at carrying the torch of natural history, biological recording and wildlife conservation into the uncertain future that awaits us all. They're not just brilliant naturalists for their age - they're brilliant naturalists period! I don't just go out with them to show them stuff, I go out with them as I know they'll get me a load of lifers too! I absolutely love being shown things by people decades younger than me. It's great fun seeing PSL thriving in this way.
On Thursday morning (6th August), I hit 10,000 species seen in the British Isles. I first pulled my list together on the 1st August 2010, so you could say it's took me 16 years to get to this point. Yet I started recording when I was 10, so you could also say it actually took 38 years. Or 48 years. Whatever the time scale, I feel privileged to be one of only three people to every get to the 10,000 mark. Looking at the rankings though, this is really going to change over the coming years. I predict some of the younger more active listers could hit 10,000 before they reach 30.
My 10,000th species was very nearly a bug new to Britain but it needs more work to confirm it, or it might not be possible to get to species. I didn't want to go and find something, I just wanted it to happen organically - I really love the randomness of PSL. That side of it really appeals to my ADHD brain. I was working at Blean Wednesday to Friday last week and again stayed at Sandwich Bird Observatory. I didn't get anything new at Blean that day and I ran a trap at the Obs. So my 10,000th species was...
Ancylosis oblitella. A rather dull pyralid. It must be common there as there were 10 in the trap! In fact, I actually quite like that it wasn't that scarce and wasn't that exciting. Because that is what most species are like. Something amazing would have been too easy, and to be fair PSL is all about trying to master all the species within each group over your life, and most species are not rare or scarce.
Which is how minutes later I hit my 10,001 species with one of my longest standing bogies! Dark Spinach. How has it took me 35 years to see this moth?
The next day at Blean, I picked up my 10,002nd species. This gorgeous cranefly. What a beauty! I believe this is Metalimnobia bifasciata. Yet another fairly widespread species.
In the evening, I went out with Jonny Bull the Assistant Warden at the Obs to set some moth traps up. I couldn't believe it when I saw my 10,003rd species - Sharp Rush! I had no idea how different this thing is compared to Sea Rush (on the right). What a rush dude! It's 6 foot high and could easily have your eye out, the spines are brutal and the inflorescences are massive.
Here it is the next morning. It's like someone magically froze a firework! I actually hear firework noises in my head when I look at these tussocks.
I got a couple more new moths in the traps the next morning but failed to take any photos. So I am now on 10,005 species! The moth traps were epically good but I will do a separate post about that as part of the 6000 Species Challenge.
The rate at which I see new species is easy to forecast over long time scales, in fact as far back as last year I expected it to happen this August! Now, is 20,000 species possible in a lifetime? I will give it a go...
A massive thanks Jonny Bull and the team at the Obs but also a huge thanks to Will Langdon, Alex Press and Joss Carr for getting me loads of lifers on an epic trip to Epping Forest last weekend. It was all the more exciting as I wasn't expecting to go!
If you fancy giving pan-species listing a go, you can sign up free to the website here www.panspecieslisting.com, It might just change your life!
Pan-species Listing is thriving! We've never had more people taking part as we do now, it's a great time to get involved with this worthwhile and intensely enjoyable way to do natural history. We're heading to Global Birdfair for our third year now. This year we have lots going on, so please come and find us. This is what we are up to:
1). We have a stall again, Robin 76. I will be selling (signed if you want it) copies of my book at a discounted rate.
2). Come and ask us (myself, Andy Musgrove, Mike Prince and Mark Colvin) about all things PSL. We will again be pan-species listing the event (and adjacent nature reserve) with the website setup live so you can see our progress. Last year we reached 824 species over the three days, rising to over a 1000 species when we combined the 2024 and 2025 species lists! I would love to beat last year's total, but with other commitments this year and the weather, I am not going to go crazy this time. Well, OK just a little bit. Here's the list from 2025, and the list for 2026.
3). We'll have some moths and other inverts to show you on our stall but we really need YOUR records too from the event. Please do come and find us with any and all records to add to our list - anything and everything. Big lists of moths and other species very welcome.
4). We have one-hour bioblitzes daily, where we typically record c200 species. They're fun and fast! Drink up all the species identified by myself and other experienced naturalists. Come find us on our stall at 10.00 am and 2.00 pm each day (11.00 am on the Sunday though).
5). That's because I am doing a 45 minute talk at the Turnstone stage on Sunday morning at 10.00 am about the book. Head to our stall straight after for books and/or the morning bioblitz.
6). This year I am trying to see 6,000 species through the course of 2026, as of Wed I am on 3,962 species. I am well on target but if anyone can help me get a species or two, I'd be super grateful.
7). I am also only 44 species away from 10,000 in my lifetime! If anyone can get me a lifer I'll be over the moon!
Really looking forward to it, hope to see you there.
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!
At the end of week 1, I reached 564 species (I am actually on 565 as of today as I saw some Large White pupae on my friends wall this morning). I ended week 1 with a much needed day out at Iping and Stedham Commons and added nearly 120 species, over a quarter of which were spiders. I had a Zora silvestris on Stedham Common (it is well-known from Iping Common but this might be first time I have seen this Critically Endangered and Nationally Rare spider this side of the road), and a whole load of scarce spiders even though much of the ground was still frozen. Persistence pays off!
Here's a list of the nice spiders I had yesterday and their statuses.
This is easy to find by suction on the shorter, managed areas of open heath at Iping. Seems to like very dry areas here, and can be found in numbers even on a freezing cold day in Jan!
This is the first record for Iping Common since 1969! And it means on the SRS page I will be turning the black cross back to a black dot. This spider has more locations in West Sussex than anywhere else, so I was pleased to sieve a tiny female from moss under trees at Stedham. I have only seen this spider twice before, so I have three records from three West Sussex hectads now. It's also a winter active species, so is exactly the kind of thing I need to be targeting at the moment.
Also
Hypsosinga sanguinea - NS
Hypsosinga albovittata - NS (ticked it on the 1st at Malling)
Kochiura aulica - NS
Scotina celans - NS
Scotina gracilipes - NS
Episinus truncatus - NS
Monocephalus castaneipes - NS & S.41
Agyneta mollis - (NR, NT & S.41) lol. I have had this spider every day I have been out with the sucker this year, it's a 1st January kinda species and shouldn't even be Nationally Scarce!
Not scarce but Aphileta misera is not an easy spider to find in Sussex and I recorded the first Tallusia experta at Iping 1968! I forgot just how awesome sieving moss for spiders is in winter, this is really bringing back fond memories of those three years of spider year-listing (although Sphagnum in the open was frozen solid yesterday). I've seen 74 spiders so far this year.
But you do find loads of other stuff when looking for spiders in winter. Obviously all the heathland plants were new yesterday, as were Lapwing, Mallard, Coot and Grey Heron as I drove to site, as well as Crossbills, Dartford Warbler, Linnet and Stonechat on site!
I beat some nice things off pine, including oddly a Juniper Shieldbug, which was new to the site.
And a gorgeous Striped Ladybird. I even saw a queen Bombus terrestris yesterday on Gorse!
My number one target on the website (the species that most other pan-species year listers have seen, that I have not) is currently Mute Swan (with my first non-bird target being Roe Deer).
This followed a quick but icy lunchtime walk around Withdean Woods on the 6th, where I found Pomatias elegans, one of very few land snails with an operculum. I always think they have the fire on in there and are watching something nice on TV with a brew. 23 molluscs for the year!
I had a great day out at Woods Mill on the 2nd with Henry Miller. Orange Ladybird was a highlight.
Karen and I started the year with a bang on the 1st Jan at Malling Down. You have to work a little harder when it is this cold but there was still plenty to see. Like Round-headed Rampion if you know what the leaves look like.
I have seen 218 species of invertebrate species in the first week of one of the coldest weeks of the decade, so I am pretty pleased with that. Being used to doing lots of winter work for spider really helps here. I have still not been rock-pooling, waiting for some low tides in day light. The great thing with this game is there is always something else to do, so my game plan is to not go out when conditions are not really good.
So here's my overall progress so far
Now I am not out again until Saturday, when I am going out spidering again with my friend Jame Chisnall.
I am fund raising for this for the management of Sussex Wildlife Trust's nature reserves, so please do consider donating on my JustGiving page.
And if you want to learn more about the pan-species listing approach to natural history, please have a look at my book here which is out very soon.
Now, will I find anything new for the year on my way to Hove Town Hall?...
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.
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