NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Dryad's Saddle Yesterday I had the bright idea of spring-cleaning (or should that be autumn-cleaning) my Pan-species list (PSL). If you want to find out more about this PSL madness have a look here.  My PSL 'career' has been one of bursts of enthusiasm, followed by troughs of neglect, but the list has always been steadily maintained even if not actively pursued. Even before Mark Telfer launched the PSL initiative, I had already been keeping such a list (all taxa species personally recorded in the UK), and it was a pleasant surprise to find out that others were also doing so. My Top Ten listing in the first 'league' table was a false dawn as I soon started to fall down the ladder as others joined in  - many of them professional ecologists. Even now, hovering around 40th position, is not a true reflection on who has seen what in the UK, as I know of many naturalists who have recorded far more than I but who do not appear. I do not keep an all-encompassing database of ...

My pan species listing total has stalled somewhat over recent months. It currently stands on 3393 with the last addition being the migrant micro moth Syncopacma polychromella . And that was back in December. My embracing of the pan species concept hasn't loosened, but I have come to an acceptance that I am not one of those naturalists who has the inclination to name everything that they come across. I thought that I did, but I don't. In the past couple of years I seem to have wandered back into birding as my first port of call when it comes to spending time out in the field. Lengthy stays at Dungeness Bird Observatory have undoubtably fostered this, along with the sharing of quality time with the great and the good folks who haunt the shingle. This has lead to less time being spent birding locally (which was becoming trying anyway) and a rediscovery of going that bit further afield. My recent visits to Pulborough Brooks have been not only enjoyable, but have made me realis...

It's all out there - you've just got to open your eyes and LOOK Lists. I've never hidden my fascination with them, my upkeep of them, but have always pointed out that I'm not a chaser of them. Maybe this is unusual, in as much as if you are nerdish enough to list all that you see, then it is highly likely that you will also go out of your way to keep on adding to them with a manic need. Maybe my need is purely passive - having a list to record my efforts is enough in itself. My biggest list - both in scope and number - is my pan-species list; that is ALL of the living things that I have seen in the UK. As a listing project this is about as wide-ranging and challenging as you can get. It has become my one and only list in a way as it comprises all of my other lists combined. So I have to service all of the 37 sublists that feeds it.... confused? Don't be... go online and visit the new pan-listers website and take a look. You can find it at  http://www.brc.ac.u...

The more popular this pan-species lark gets, the further down the list I go. If I were a man I would learn all of my mosses, liverworts and lichens, befriend an insect expert, string like hell and haul my sorry ass up into the play-off positions (that's 3rd - 6th for you non-Football types). Fat chance... 1 st : Jonty Denton (10,535) 2 nd : Dave Gibbs (9,506) 3 rd : Mark Telfer (6,169) 4 th : Malcolm Storey (5,284) 5 th : John Palmer (5,280) 6 th : Graeme Lyons (3,713) 7 th : Martin Harvey (3,681) 8 th : Sarah Patton (3,327) 9 th : Nicola Bacciu (3,253) 10 th : Matt Prince (3,217) 11 th : Jonathan Newman (3,013) 12 th : Steve Gale (3,012) 13 th : Tony Davis (2,953) 14 th : Seth Gibson (2,495) 15 th : Rob Woodall (2,328) 16 th : Jeff Blincow (2,170) 17 th : Mark Skevington (1,983) 18 th : Graham French (1,943) 19 th : Stuart Dunlop (1,404) 20 th : Josh Jenkins-Shaw (1,342) 21 st : Clive Washington (1,060) 22 nd : Sami Webster (900) 23 rd : Robert Smith (894) ...

The latest pan-species update is: Flora 1378 (+2) Mosses & Liverworts 36 (+9) Lichen 23 (+12) Fungi 32 (+2) Birds 375 Moths 710 (+2) Butterflies 50 Dragonflies 34 Mammals 32 Amphibians 5 Reptiles 4 Fish 17 Snails & Slugs 8 Marine 45 (+25) Worms 1 Leeches 1 Algae 1 Thysanura (Bristletails) 1 Orthoptera (Grasshoppers) 3 Dermaptera (Earwigs) 1 Hemiptera (Shieldbugs, hoppers) 10 (+1) Thysanoptera (Thrips, Lice) 1 Neuropterans (Lacewings) 2 Trichoptera (Caddisflies) 2 Diptera (Flies) 20 (+2) Hymenoptera (Wasps, Bees, Ants) 20 (+1) Coleoptera (Beetles) 31 Centipedes 4 Millipedes 2 Woodlice 4 Ticks, Mites, Harvestmen 4 Spiders 13 TOTAL: 2870 Most of the additions have come courtesy of Cornish rock pools and beaches. Will I reach 3,000 before the end of the year? It would be easy enough to do if I put my mind to it, but I'm quite happy with letting things come to me. I could target hoverflies, fungi, mosses and lichens in the next few weeks and ge...

The pan-species list creeps on to 2814 ... Flora 1376 Mosses & Liverworts 27 Lichen 11 Fungi 30 Birds 375 Moths 708 Butterflies 50 Dragonflies 34 Mammals 32 Amphibians 5 Reptiles 4 Fish 17 Snails & Slugs 8 Marine 20 Worms 1 Leeches 1 Algae 1 Thysanura (Bristletails) 1 Orthoptera (Grasshoppers) 3 Dermaptera (Earwigs) 1 Hemiptera (Shieldbugs, hoppers) 9 Thysanoptera (Thrips, Lice) 1 Neuropterans (Lacewings) 2 Trichoptera (Caddisflies) 2 Diptera (Flies) 18 Hymenoptera (Wasps, Bees, Ants) 19 Coleoptera (Beetles) 31 Centipedes 4 Millipedes 2 Woodlice 4 Ticks, Mites, Harvestmen 4 Spiders 13 If you are still reading this then you deserve a medal. There is plenty of scope to add to the list, and no doubt my totals for moss, lichen, fungi, flies and beetles will draw howls of derision from many naturalists. Before I draw more flak from the 'Pan-species listing is pointless and why don't you get a life' brigade, I will point out that I enjoy...

Mark Telfer, he who holds the keys to all that is 'pan-species listing', has just posted a set of rules on his website, to guide those of us crazy enough to take part and keep us on the straight and narrow. I was happily taking it all in until I came to the section marked 'Geography' which says: 'The biogeographical unit of ‘the British Isles’, i.e. Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man, including the seas around the isles (defined for the UK as the UK Economic Exclusion Zone of 200 nautical miles (370 kms) or midpoint between the UK and any neighbouring country). The Channel Islands don’t count.' I read that last line again: THE CHANNEL ISLANDS DON'T COUNT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I've got a nice little package of plants that I've seen on Jersey, and nowhere else, all happily sitting on my pan-species list. You see, if you are a member of the Botanical Society of the British Isles,they allow you to count the Channel Islands. So do the Wild Flowe...

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the writer of this blog, Steve Gale, was taken away by the authorities and placed in a secure unit at the Attenborough Home for Confused Naturalists. His wife called in help when Steve was found hanging upside down from the rafters of the loft, in the belief that he could entice Horseshoe Bats into the roof space and thus onto his pan-species list. His wife has revealed that Steve has been exhibiting bizarre behaviour on an increasing scale: "Since he started this bloody stupid pan listing he has been insisting that I keep the kitchen as filthy as possible to entice cockroaches, I haven't been able to wash so that he can check me for fleas and he has hired a digger to excavate the garden in his search for all sorts of creepy-crawlies." Doctor Geoffrey Masters from the Packham wing at Attenborough was quite confident that Steve will be returned to society in a fit state once again: "We need to keep him away from any visual st...

This pan-species listing lark (no pun intended) can seriously wreck your natural history 'blueprint'. When I 'only' looked at birds, I was, without any complications, a birder. Identification of what I saw was a fairly straightforward matter and the literature needed to take on the more complicated species was both accessible and plentiful. When I turned my attention to lepidoptera, butterflies were few (and obvious) and moths - as long as I took a circuitous path around the micros - was once again aided by clear identification guides. Even the micros were being increasingly serviced by excellent reference material on the web and in print. Botany came a little later, but I was fortunate in having an embarrasment of books to help me out with those tricky crucifers and sedges. To sum up, with a little patience I could bird, moth and botanise without the need for much head-scratching when coming up with correct identification (although there are always some exceptions....

After a couple of recent incorrect identifications (of a grass and a spider), I'm a more wary individual. This morning I approached the moth trap with an air of uncertainty. As far as macro moths go, I'm on fairly safe ground. Micro moths are a bit more of a challenge, but I do have accessibility to all of the literature that I need. Other invertebrates are a different matter. Take spiders for instance. I have a copy of the Collins Field Guide to the Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe by Michael Roberts. That, to my small mind, must be enough of a reference to confidently identify anything that comes my way (save for a foreign stowaway in a box of bananas). My assumption is wrong. I've struggled to match the living spider, or a decent macro image of one, with the plates in the guide. Last week's Thursley spider was a case in point. It could be that all spiders are highly variable and that students of the arachnidae look towards other features to get a correct iden...