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!
Wow. What a weekend. I had wanted to keep up with my blogs over the weekend but slow wi-fi in the B&B scuppered that. Anyway, this is Saturday's adventure...
So many people, so many arachnids. I finally got to meet Tylan Berry and Debs Rylands yesterday (who was kind enough to take this shot of the 'spider year-listers'). Nicola Bacciu drove us down to Plymouth where we met up with Tylan, Kev, Debs, James McGill and John Walters.
Our first site was arguably the rarest spider in Britain. Within minutes we had seen FOUR Horrid Ground-weavers Nothophantes horridus. Now this is an endemic spider, only known since 1989 and only from a handful of extremely threatened sites. We saw 3% of all the Nothophantes horridus that have ever been seen in the world in an an hour. I think from looking at the habitat the hyphen is in the wrong place and Horrid-ground Weaver is more apt. No suction samplers needed at this point, just turning over stones. Or without the hyphen, I think it is the best name for our band in the top photo, the Horrid Ground Weavers!
A male in the first photo and a female in the second photo. That's a Tramp Slug for scale. And a quick video.
A photo from John Walters of all photographing horridus.
Then James found one of the other targets, Centetostoma bacilliferum. It looks like Pinhead from Hellraiser. The Cenobite version of a regular harvestman.
Then I stupidly got Matt a year tick, Epsinus maculipes. I was actually increasing the gap! Also present, only the third time I have ever seen Dipoena inornata.
Then onto another site where I stumbled across a botanical lifer, only my third ever broomrape being Ivy Broomrape.
And the incredibly strange little orange harvestman that is Scotolemon doriae. What an odd little thing it is.
And a video. Why does someone always ruin them with swearing!?
Then I had TWO lifers in the car park leaving the site. Eratagina saeva!
And of course, Cryptachaea blattea! Thanks Tylan for showing me that one. Bigger than I thought it would be.
Then back to Bovey Tracey for Matt's first for Britain. The tiny Pelecopsis susannae which we found without too much effort sampling tree trunks. All in all it was an amazing day, a huge thank you for everyone involved. Next up I head to Cornwall for even more spider action. I will add though that as of today I am only THREE species behind Matt on 366 species having had 15 lifers in Devon and Cornwall. When I publish the 4th day I will write out the species list for all four days as it is pretty epic.
Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend some time in the field with other arachnologists. The shadow in the above photo is Richard Gallon, with Ray Gabriel central and me on the right. We were looking for the enigmatic and extremely rare Thanatus formicinus. A big and impressive spider last seen in Sussex in 1969. There is about as much chance of finding Winnie the Pooh, also from the Ashdown Forest. Yet it did just turn unexpectedly up at Clumber in Nottinghamshire, where I assume it has remained undetected for decades.
We didn't find it. Possibly due to a thick layer of Scotch Mist.
However, we did have an awesome day and recorded something in the region of 45 species of spider. Armed with a trio of suction samplers, we looked like a cross between the Ghostbusters and Last of the Summer Wine. Richard had his petrol driven beast and Ray and I had an electric one a piece. First sample and Richard got a lifer for him and a new one for the year for me. A big female Agroeca brunnea. Only the second time I have seen it and the first female.
I didn't take many more photos on the day, except this Himacerus boops recorded at Duddleswell. It seems to be a genuinely scarce species in Sussex. I do a lot of sampling on heathland and this is the first Sussex record since 2011!
Now back to the spiders. I was able to tease out just what I wrote down from my sampler in the field and make a comparison between a single petrol suction sampler and an electric one.
Species
Status
Petrol
Electric
Agrocea
brunnea
1
Agroeca
proxima
1
Araneus
diadematus
1
Bathyphantes
gracilis
1
1
Centrmerita
concinna
1
Centromerus
dilutus
1
1
Ceratinella
brevis
1
Ceratniella
brevipes
1
Cercida
prominens
NS
1
Clubiona
subtilis
1
1
Cnephalocotes
obscurus
1
Ditcyna latens
1
1
Erigone atra
1
Erigone
dentipalpis
1
1
Ero cambridgei
1
Ero frucata
1
Euophrys
frontalis
1
Evarcha
arcuata
1
Gonatium
rubens
1
1
Gongylidiellum
vivum
1
Hahnia montana
1
Hypselistes
jacksoni
NS
1
Hypsosinga
pygmaea
1
Hypsosinga
sanguinea
NS
1
1
Mangora
acalycpha
1
1
Mermessus
trilobatus
1
Metellina
mengei
1
Neon
reticulatus
1
Pachygnatha
degeeri
1
1
Palliduphantes
eicaeus
1
1
Pelecopsis
parallela
1
Pholcomma
gibbum
1
1
Pisaura
mirabilis
1
1
Pocadicnemis
pumila
1
Simitidion
simile
1
1
Sintula
corniger
NS
1
1
Tenuiphantes
mengei
1
Tenuiphantes
tenuis
1
1
Tenuiphantes
zimmermanni
1
Thanatus
striatus
NS
1
1
Walckenaeria
antica
1
Walckenaeria unicornis
1
Zora spinimana
1
1
TOTAL SPECIES
43
35
25
Percentage
100%
8.41%
58.1%
Unique
n/a
18
8
Ubiquitous
17
17
17
Species with
status
5
4
4
Proportion of
sp. with status
11.6%
11.4%
16.0%
This has proved a really interesting exercise. It was fairly standardised, we did about as many samples as each other. Mine certainly took longer to collect and a shorter time to process but I think this is a fairly standardised comparison without getting really science about it. Clearly the petrol gets more but they do get slightly different things when using them together. In this case, it would seem the electric sampler slightly inflates the metric of 'proportion of species with conservation status' that is a valuable tool for assessing a site's quality through its invertebrate assemblage.
EDIT: Totally forgot to say that Sintula corniger is new to East Sussex!
It was such a great day, so good to spend time with other arachnologists, something I rarely do being almost entirely self-taught. A big thanks to Richard and Ray and thank to Richard for the cake and coffee. I have been driving by Duddleswell Tea Rooms for 12 years! I was a bit gutted I didn't take more photos, so on Tuesday I went back up to the forest and did two hours sucking with one electric battery at Old Lodge and got a few goodies. First up I took some photos of species from above.
Here is the tiny Centromerus dilutus which is super common. This is on full zoom. This spider has a maximum length of 1.5 mm when adult! I never take the time to take photos of linys, this was quite a fun exercise but the photos are all poor, the light was awful too.
An adult male Walckneaeria antica.
And also very common, Centromeritus conccinus.
Evarcha arcuata and Cercidia prominens, both adult males at Old Lodge in November. There do not appear to be any records for either in November. It just goes to show it's worth getting out there even on these cold November days.
I did get a few species we didn't find on Saturday. These were.
Ozyptila atomaria
Micrommata virescens
Crustulina guttata
Meioneta mollis (new to site and Nationally Rare)
Tapinopa longidens (first Sussex record since 1968!)
Hahnia helveola (new site record and a lifer)
The last two of these species being new for the year putting me on 336. only 19 behind Matt! Here is a young Micrommata virescens.
Not to be mistaken for a young Tibellus.
To the naked eye, these and young Thanatus striatus all look quite similar but Micrommata have what I can only describe as 'feet'. Like in this shot. Showing that they are related to huntsman.
And finally the adult male Hahnia helveola, which happens to be the 48th new spider I have had this year and my 7500th species in all. Now I wrote this pretty quickly in just over an hour as I am now going to go to, you've guessed it, Ashdown Forest. It saves me driving to the north of England to look for linys, while still getting good records for Sussex.
So yes, we suck. But we are awesome at finding spiders. If Tapinopa longidens can turn up at after 51 years, we won't miss Thanatus formicarius. I am sure it's out there. One thing I learned from Richard was the habitat I was looking in is a bit off, a little too Molinia dominated so now I am concentrating on a heather dominated structure that I think I understand. Watch this space!
Last Saturday I completed visit 5 of 6 of the invertebrate survey of East Head and it was a great day, I had to reschedule at short notice due to poor weather and was expecting to be doing the survey alone but I was wrong. Mark Gurney, Lee Walther and his family were all able to join in at short notice
Working in conservation, I have been lucky enough to work with so many of the great naturalists of our time and Mark Gurney has got to be up there. The last time we spent the day entomologising was about 2012, you can read about it here. Here is Mark with his legendary weevil fork.
Seven years later and Mark has levelled up becoming a national specialist on weevils. His weevil guides are making this unnecessarily difficult group much more accessible, even the apionids. In the field, Mark now uses multiple forks and has a new outfit. Seriously though it's great to still be working together all these years later after our RSPB days, even though we are both in different roles now.
The highlight for me was the weevil Protapion dissimile. I mentioned there was a big patch of Hare's-tail Clover over there. We got to it, turned the suction sampler on for 30 seconds and there was a male, complete with funny tarsi and swollen first antennal segments. It's great when it all fits together like that. This was a new beetle for me and only the 7th Sussex record.
We found some living specimens of Dicranocephalus agilis. This is the only known site for this bug in Sussex. So far I have only found a dead adult, so it was good to find these nymphs on the fixed dunes where more dead litter builds up beneath the plants.
The proportion of species with conservation status has dropped slightly but is still incredibly high at 16.2%. Here is one of Mark's photos, the Nb Anerastia lotella. A mainly coastal pyralid that feeds on grasses. I also found a dead Shore Wainscot which was cathartic as I thought I had the larva earlier in the year but couldn't confirm it. I also found another Hypocaccus dimidiatus in the mobile dunes.
And another one of Mark's, a plant tick for me. Lax-flowered Sea-lavender.
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