This just arrived, by @graemelyons.bsky.social. 400 pages packed with guidance on how to identify almost any taxonomic group you can think of. An absolute 'must have' for any naturalist.

As it's publication day, I have put a few words down about what I have tried to do with the book, it's a lot more than just pan-species listing. Please have a read. I am now an author!

It's publication day!

I'm doing a talk on my book at Exeter Street Hall (opposite the Chimney House) in Brighton next Wednesday night. It's only £2 entry and I am selling the book at a discount. Hope to see some of my Brighton friends there!

Very pleased to get my hard copy of @graemelyons.bsky.social excellent book. See my review: markavery.info/2026/01/04/s... I broke my rule of not giving jacket quotes for this book. Great cover, Rachel Hudson. Thnx for publishing @pelagic.bsky.social #naturalhistory #wildlife

What do you record? Birds? Plants? Beetles? 🐞 Pan-Species Listing is about recording everything you find—building a fuller picture of UK biodiversity. FREE! Join @graemelyons.bsky.social on 13 May to learn how to get started. 🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977266072... @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

New on the blog! Read a sample chapter of Pan-Species Listing by @graemelyons.bsky.social 📖 Take a look 👀➡️ https://tinyurl.com/uye72vtd #panspecies #identification #species#taxonomyy

Really enjoying this by @graemelyons.bsky.social I don't think I'll ever become a super-naturalist but I'll have fun trying! #PanSpeciesListing

Thank you to all who helped organise and run the 35th Sussex Biological Recorders' Seminar on Saturday - talks covered all sorts, from kelp and carbon storing trees, to woodpeckers, marine eDNA sampling and pan-species listing - I got the fantastic new book by @graemelyons.bsky.social whilst there!

1/2 #speciesaday no. 686 is Oblong-leaved Sundew. Not usually as common as Round-leaved Sundew in Sussex. Find it on bare exposed black peaty mud (M16 - along with Sphagnum compactum and Marsh Clubmoss). This one appeared on a scrape at Hesworth Common last year, it also popped up again at Graffham.

1,255 for the year! 20.9% of the challenge complete, including 665 invertebrates. A trip out yesterday produced four lifers, one species new to Sussex and one new to West Sussex. A ridiculous 80 Cattle Egrets was hard to believe even when I was looking at them.

Does anyone happen to have photos of the Newhaven Woodchat Shrike and the Humpback Whale (when it was off Beachy Head) from last year that I could use in some talks about my book please?

Thanks so much Dave, this is great to hear!!!

analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2026/02/6000... A quick update on the challenge after a great day out along the Cuckmere.

1/2 #speciesday no. 685 is Tanymecus palliatus. Nationally scarce b. Like large, plain, long-legged Sitona. Feeds on a range of plants in grasslands. All my records are between 15th May and 7th July.

Mine arrived today! Looks fantastic, and so information-rich that I could browse it for weeks. Unlike any other book I know, and one I wish I'd had 50 years ago! Natural history may never be quite the same again...

It's arrived! Pan-species Listing: How to Become a Super-Naturalist published by @pelagicpublishing. My first book. I am so pleased with it. It looks amazing, all those photos of incredible British species really make this a very colourful book and a celebration of how fantastic our wildlife is.

I am doing a talk on the 4th March at Exeter Hall, just by the Chimney House pub not far from me in Brighton on pan-species listing and the book, I'll also be selling copies at a discounted price exeterstreethall.org/event/2-talk...

This is testimony… 📌 Stella Carlson, “Pink coat lady”, speaks on the murder of Alex Pretti. “After the shooting, they (ICE) decided to just scatter and save themselves.”

analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2026/01/1000... I am on 1,025 species as of the 25th January! Read the full story here.

At last I have seen the Juniper Shield Bug, Cyphostethus tristriatus thanks to @graemelyons.bsky.social who pointed them out. Also learned a good technique for bug collecting! Sullington, South Downs #shieldbugs #juniper A good day.

🦋 Pan-Species Listing: Become a Super-Naturalist Record all the wildlife you see in the UK and level up your natural history skills. Join @graemelyons.bsky.social Lyons on 13 May to discover the world of PSL. @panspecieslisting.bsky.social 🎟️ FREE! Book now: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977266072...

This is already out of date (I am actually on 837 species) but have a look anyhow... #panspecieslisting #6000speciesin2026 #biologicalrecording @sussexwildlife.bsky.social analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2026/01/6000...

A second Important record for West Sussex, I found it last year. And found it again today at a different site. Centromerus cavernarum. @britishspiders.bsky.social #spiders #centromerus #arachnids

Just hit 700 species for the year, with the common leaf beetle Oulema melanopus, from Burton Pond on the 10th! #6000speciesin2026

1/2 #speciesaday no. 684 is Pardosa pullata. An extremely common wolf spider. The epigyne is very distinctive - think heart-shaped glasses at a jaunty angle! Can turn up pretty much anywhere that is open, most of my records are from the suction sampler. I expect this on every grassland survey.

As of this morning, I am on 571 species for the year. Here's an update from an exciting spider trip to Stedham & Iping Commons on the 7th January where I found a spider that's not been seen there since 1969 @sussexwildlife.bsky.social analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2026/01/6000...

Small, pale and interesting - Asthenargus paganus a denizen of the Spruce plantation moss floor. Couple more 🎄Welsh records to add to the UK distribution map. @britishspiders.bsky.social @tylanberry.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social @chalkspring.bsky.social

Another interesting Liny from the dying light of Halvana Plantation of a late afternoon last week. A second Cornish site for Maro minutus. This little 1mm thing is weirdly distinctive in the tray...aided very much by a head torch!! @britishspiders.bsky.social @cofnod.org.uk @graemelyons.bsky.social

Happy new year to all you fellow spiderers! Didn't think I'd be seeing out 2025 with Porrhomma montanum from the deep, cold, darkness of a Bodmin Moor conifer plantation! What is this doing in Cornwall!?! @britishspiders.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social @cofnod.org.uk @chalkspring.bsky.social

My top ten highlights of 2025! What a difficult year it was to rank these, there were so many amazing moments! analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2026/01/my-t...

@britishspiders.bsky.social @cofnod.org.uk @graemelyons.bsky.social @tylanberry.bsky.social @snake-spider-et-al.bsky.social Some of my favourite UK finds of 2025. Happy New Year #spiders

1/2 #specieaday no. 683 is Andrena minutuloides. Nationally Scarce A. A 'mini-miner'. In Sussex, commonest on the Downs especially arable margins. Slimmer, shinier and with more widely spaced punctures than the much commoner and more widespread Andrena minutula (with which it often occurs).

1/2 #speciesaday no. 682 is Tomoxia bucephala. A Nationally Scarce saproxylic 'tumbling flower beetle'. Superficially like the much commoner Variimorda villosa, but a different pattern and more strongly associated with deadwood. I have recorded it between 2nd June and 10th July. Not annual for me.

1/2 #speciesaday no. 681 is Sericomyia lappona. A very smart and distinctive large, almost black and white hover with a conker for a scutellum. Restricted to boggy sites, much commoner in the north and west but also New Forest. Not common in Sussex. My records are between 30th May and 20th June.

1/2 #speaciesaday no. 680 is Stictoleptura scutellata. A large, solid, all-black (with an orange scutellum) Nationally Scarce longhorn beetle. Commonest in Beech woodland, seems to be fairly common around the New Forest but it's very scarce in Sussex. All my records are between 30th May & 11th July.

1/2 #speciesaday no. 679 is Euophrys frontalis. A very common jumper in open habitats. Identifiable throughout much of the year. Adult males have magic wands for front legs and red-ringed eyes (think Paul Daniels with hay fever). Striking white on the top of the palps too! I just love salticids!

1/2 #speciesaday no. 677 is Walckenaeria acuminata. Periscope up! The male of this spider has its eyes spread out along the turret - 4 half way and the other 4 at the top! This genus is an utter joy, I love showing this spider to people for the first time. Even the female has a small protrusion.

I am going to try and see 6000 species over 2026! Exciting. Full story in the blog post below.

Anyone digitise sites in QGIS? I have been digitising large complex sites for over 20 years but recently I have found QGIS a nightmare. I drew the yellow polygon (the geometry is good/seamless). I go to merge it with the existing polygon and this happens. Please help! Driving me nuts #qgis

1/2 #speciesaday no. 676 is Megalinus glabratus. A large, shiny, local rove beetle with red eltyra and a big head that I see in open habitats, usually on the Downs. I have two records in June but most of my records come from August and September.

1/2 #speciesaday no. 676 is Common Rock-rose (Helianthemum nummularium). Vulnerable as of the latest status review! It's certainly not in every parcel of chalk grassland but is often really common where it occurs and there are loads of inverts that use it (as well as oddly, mycorrhizal fungi).

#speciesaday no. 675 is Silky Rosegill (Volvariella bombycina). I have only seen this once at Ebernoe Common in 2016, growing out of a hole in a Beech tree. It really reminded me of some sort of coconut dessert! www.panspecieslisting.com

Apologies for the delay in getting through iRecord verification - something had to give with the book for the last few years. Now that's out of the way I am catching up with the backlog. 300 records verified this morning and 100 of my own records entered from the Spurn PSL get together.

#speciesaday no. 674 is Montagu's Sea Snail (Liparis montagui). Not a snail, but a fish! Considering it is not meant to be that scarce, I only have one record - from 2013 at St Mary's Lighthouse in the north east. I'm sure I've seen it once more though, but not in the last decade. Cut little thing!

1/2 #speciesaday no. 673 is Marsh Clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) is a Nationally Scarce & Section 41 (although it has come off the Red List in the 2025 status review, this is stil a plant that's struggling in places). Found only on damp, black, peaty mud (M16), in places where you'll see sundews.

1/2 #speciesaday no. 672 is the obscene Parasitic Bolete (Pseudoboletus parasiticus) growing from its host Common Earthball (Scleroderma citrinum). Around 10 years ago I was seeing this all around the West Weald. I guess it will come round again.

1/2 #speceisaday no. 671 is Abax parallelepipedus. A large & common carabid typically found under logs in woodland. I just sent off all my 8,200 carabid records to Mark Telfer for him to include in the status review he is doing. Surprised there are not more (as I make 10,000 spider records A YEAR).

A mind-blowingly cool few days rock-pooling down at Falmouth last weekend concluded with a session at Helford Passage. We found a cockle new to Cornwall! Plus a load of other cool stuff. Full story in my blog... analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...

This Male Walckenaeria acuminata may be common but its a fantastic looking spider, since getting into Linys this Genus is so fasinating. And its great that the male and female of this species can be Identified with a hand Lens. @britishspiders.bsky.social