Lockdown wildlife listing

A blogpost on getting to know the wildlife in your garden, out on your doorstep or around the neighbourhood, through the incentive of wildlife recording / listing.

We all keep hearing about how we need to 'connect more with nature'. Its a bit of a vague term isnt it? My interpretation of that is to observe wildlife, perhaps draw it, photograph or even paint it. Then there's another, slightly more primal approach.... chase it down!

My front garden (2.5m x 1.5m)

There are good reasons for identifying and listing wildlife; keeping records builds a picture of what is happening to wildlife populations in the countryside (and our gardens, and urban environments). Also putting a name to something, or 'labelling' it, opens up of world of curiosity around that organism, invariably leading to further questions; what does it do, what does it need, how many different types are there (which you can easily find answers to these days in books and online). Suddenly you are now marvelling at nature on a new, intricate level.

So what things do you need to become a wildlife lister?



Not a lot really. I would say your main kit is a pen, paper and maybe some kind of a container or jar. Ok you might not have a butterfly net handy, but you could make do with that old pond net shoved in the back of the shed. You can involve the whole family, sending your minions (children or other-halfs) out to hunt things down for you and pot them up.

Starting off easy with a Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum)

Or use the stealth approach and take pics on your phone. The person with the best handwriting (not me) can then write everything down, or you can keep your list on handy apps like iNaturalist or iRecord.

Don't try to catch birds obviously - just make a note of them

White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) on Hyacinth

The iNaturalist app is good for beginners as it helps match your photo to a species...

Then the record is added to the list on your phone...

However you don't need a photo for everything; just the species name, date and location are the essential details for a wildlife record

Ok but what if you don't have a garden? Well you can perhaps start a list for your local park, or even an individual tree or shrub can be a draw for all sorts of wildlife. I heard a talk by wildlife photographer Jeremy Early about the multitude of insects he was recording around an old laurel hedge, which he had considered getting rid of (he since changed his mind). It seems while the sun is on it, its waxy leaves make perfect basking pads for flying insects...

My next door neighbour's laurel bush

Here's a few of the things I've recorded on next door's laurel over the past two days...

Basking hoverfly

Turned out to be the Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)

I think this little lady is Gwynne's mining bee Andrena bicolor (carrying pollen on her back legs means its a she)

Looking at the underside of the leaves... hidden away was this tiny Noble False Widow (Steatoda nobilis), one of our most common garden spiders in Brighton

Red Mason Bee (Osmia bicornis) male netted from the laurel

A tiny bee on Dandelion, I think this one is the Yellow-legged Mining Bee Andrena flavipes

Mum and Dad's fridge list which I had started just before lockdown... Have you been updating this guys?

Here are a few online resources to help you have a go at identifying things:

• Common garden wildlife - simple downloadable guides by the Natural History Museum https://www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/identify-nature.html
• For birds you can give the RSPB bird identifier a try (though when testing it out I found it a bit hard myself!!) https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/identify-a-bird/
• I highly recommend these FSC fold out charts – they do a garden gift pack for £18 – great for your homeschool https://www.field-studies-council.org/product-category/publications/
• And Heritage Playing Cards do lots of different wildlife groups (great way for learning common species, I used them when first learning my garden birds) http://heritageplayingcards.com/index.php/garden-birds.html

Or if you get really stuck you can email me with your pics, as I seem to have a bit more time on my hands! 

Its not just about listing wildlife though, we should also endeavour to help it where we can.
You can thank your local wildlife (and encourage them more into your garden) through these handy tips by the Wildlife Trust https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/looking-after-yourself-and-nature
Also see what's happening in Michael from the Sussex Wildlife Trust's garden via the Corona Wildlife Diary https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/category/corona-wildlife-diary 

Biodiversity Gatwick 2016: Highlights and lowlights

1. Highlight: All our biodiversity interpretation boards were installed, including images of notable species to be found around Gatwick.

Tom S., Robert and Harry of the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership

Lowlight: Forgetting to include any representatives of an entire taxonomic kingdom...

2. Highlight: Yet another year with our superb ecology volunteers carrying out record numbers of surveys; we seriously cannot thank you enough!

Lowlight: The state of my car by the end of summer.

3. Highlight: Of all the new species this year to Gatwick, I think the Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) was my favourite, singing in the scrub west of Brockley Wood. 

Lowlight: My least favourite new species for Gatwick was Ash Dieback disease (Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus), now prevalent around the South East UK.

Shriveled and blackened leaves in summer

Diamond-shaped lesions around buds

4. Highlight: iRecord became available as a phone app, meaning I can now record wildlife anywhere in the UK, 24 hours a day!

Lowlight: The Wood Mouse population reached apocalyptic levels, meaning this was what I was mostly recording...

Our most recorded mammal in a single day

You again?

5. Highlight: After the fish removal from Pond 3, this year Great Crested Newts are back laying eggs!

Lowlight: Conducting amphibian surveys + leaking wellies = athletes foot

6. Highlight: Gatwick's Biodiversity Action Plans scooped another award this year and also got a mention in the International Airport Review.

Lowlight: All of our restored meadow grasslands, rich in wildflower and grass species, in which we take so much pride, are slowly trying to kill me.

7. Highlight: Discovering our first Slow Worm in Ashley's Field, a new reptile record for the Gatwick sites!

Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis)

Lowlight: Discovering our first Slow Worm poo.

8. Highlight: We hosted even more wildlife events for biological recorders, Gatwick staff and the general public.

Lowlight: Probably the wettest, most unpredictable set of wildlife events we've ever had

Tom S. models the latest in binbag fashion-wear

9. Highlight: I am finally making good progress with the malaise trap invertebrate sorting, with excellent volunteer help and the Sussex Wildlife Trust lending us their classroom!

Entomological enthusiasts Ryan Mitchell and Natalie Kay

Lowlight: Cranefly legs have become a living nightmare.

10. Highlight: The work of our excellent conservation volunteer groups, led by Tom Simpson, has resulted in great feedback from the general public about our sites.

Lowlight: Some not-so-lovely feedback from the public.

2017, here we come!

Gatwick Wildlife Recording Day 2016

At a new site along the Gatwick Stream, Land East of the Railway Line, under the friendly banners of the Sussex Wildlife Trust and Gatwick Greenspace, a merry band of water-proofed biological recorders were gathered.
    Events like these are a great way to bring together people from all backgrounds, abilities and interests, introducing them to their local wildlife. The bonus part is that we get a big boost to our data, in the form of a massive species list for the site!

The area underwent a massive change as part of a flood attenuation scheme in 2013; thousands of tons of soil were scooped out, creating a huge bowl with an area of around 18ha (44 acres). This was retained as meadow grassland and will function as a river floodplain during extreme flooding events.

Friday 17th - 8.30pm

After a slight downpour-delay, the action kicked off with surveys for small mammals...

A keen crew of mammal surveyors gathered to check the humane (longworth) traps in the misty evening...

(Photo by Helen Cradduck)

Our first find of the day... (Photo by Katherine Quinlan)

The longworth traps were mostly full... with slugs! They are very adept at getting stuck under the trigger bar, and the subsequent slug-release programme is a long and slimy business.

Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) 

Photo by Lucy Groves

Fortunately, we did find 3 very cute, non-slimy Wood Mice.

(Photo by Helen Cradduck)

Martyn Cooke kindly led the next walk, introducing us to the bats of Gatwick. The cool mist meant perhaps fewer insects were on the wing, but that didn't stop intrepid Common Pipistrelle and Noctule bats putting on an aerial show...

Noctule Bat (Nyctalus noctula) heard on a bat box duet detector

An abundance of these strange Ghost Moths were fluttering up and down in the long grass, adding to the atmosphere (and food for the bats).

Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli)

The rain started up again just as the batwalk came to a close. We covered up the moth traps, keeping their precious contents dry for the grand reveal the next morning...

Saturday 18th - 7.30am

The next morning dawned rain-free, and we started off the day with a well-rounded breakfast of date and chocolate flapjacks made by Katherine and magnificent pancakes cooked by Kevin...

Base camp was incredibly soggy underfoot, but Kevin pulled a blinder by getting up early to spread barrow loads of bark chip, absorbing the worst of it. The two Toms collected in moth traps, placed out kit to dry and started up the generators for the all-important round of hot brews.

Basecamp (photo by Lucy Groves)

7.30am: Small mammals and birds...

Basecamp was alive with bird song, and in a very short time Tom Forward had us picking out several species in just one spot, such as the highly rythmic, yet variable notes of the Song Thrush...

RSPB: Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)

Gatwick Stream flood attenuation area and grasslands

Reed Bunting is a new species to this area since the re-landscaping of the Gatwick Stream; it has a sweet, unobtrusive song...

RSPB: Reed Bunting

Our mammal traps showed success this morning, with several Wood Mice and Yellow-necked Mice in residence...

We collect data such as weight, sex and breeding condition before releasing

Along with another haul of slugs...

Lucy's new pal (Arion sp.)

In fact, we then got quite into the slugological (?!) side of things, as no reptiles were to be found under the damp refugia...

Leopard Slug (Limax maximus)

Can anyone confirm if this is Deroceras reticulatum ?

Our trail camera (which we placed out the night before, baited with old biscuits and breakfast cereal), picked up another common type of mammal. Sadly, the infrared trigger seemed to startle it and it was off like a shot...

The shy and retiring Thomas simpsonii,

Back to basecamp for a caffeine stop, then it was time for the moth-showdown! Uncovering the traps,  we had Bob Foreman (Sussex Biodiversity Records Centre) leading the species identification, while Josh Baum (Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre) entered the data into the iRecord app...

The following are just a small selection of what we caught...

Burnished Brass (Diachrysia chrysitis) (Photo by Helen Cradduck)

Elephant Hawkmoth (Deilephila elpenor), yup, that's a real moth! (Photo by Lucy Groves)

Pine Hawkmoth (Sphinx pinastri) - this massive moth is a new species for me! 

(Photo by Helen Cradduck)

Buff Ermine (Spilarctia luteum) female (Photo by Lucy Groves)

...and considering the ridiculously un-June-like weather, we bagged ourselves a good haul of species.

Next, we targeted day-flying invertebrates such as butterflies and dragonflies, which were not so much out on the wing, but instead could be spotted and sweep-netted from the long grass.

Common Blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus)

Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly (Libellula depressa) 

(Photo by Katherine Quinlan)

Josh impressed the masses by holding this male (therefore stingless)
White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

Neoscona adianta is a beautiful and rather uncommon orb-weaving spider

I've just caught myself trying to identify different people's fingers from the pics... those are mine are above. Yuck - poor spidey!

We stumbled across the experienced fungi recorder, Nick Aplin scrabbling around in a small scrape. We thought he must have turned up an exciting new species... .

But it turns out he was just looking for a lost camera stand. A short time later, he had an impressive list of new fungi species for the site!

Our records for lichens at Gatwick have been a little on the sparse side, shall we say... So two other great additions to our day were lichenologist Simon Davey and bryophytologist (?!) Brad Scott, purveyors of the tiny world of micro-greenery.

Various recorders-of-the-future were in attendance, including recent ecology graduates, environmental and ecology students, local volunteers and a couple of the Gatwick Greenspace Youth Rangers. 

It's always uplifting to have fresh eyes and ears along; future recorders, we salute you! 

Rosie Daines, an Environmental placement student at Gatwick Airport, 

with colleagues Troy and Tom Simpson

The afternoon finally unveiled the sun, and we headed over to the wildflower meadows, west of the Gatwick Stream. This site looks stunning now, full of nectar and pollen-rich plants for a fantastic diversity of invertebrates.

Oxeye Daisies were in abundance, along with a rich mix of trefoils, clovers, vetches, vetchlings and tares...

Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)

Grass Vetchling (Lathyrus nissolia)

Arthur Hoare is our botanical Yoda, opening our eyes about to the light-and-dark-sides of conservation grassland seeding. A gentle teacher, who's invaluable botanical knowledge provided us with a comprehensive plant species list -  thank you again Arthur!

All great days must come to an end, and just before packing up we tallied the species count so far...

There are still plenty of records to add to these lists, once the various specimens and photographs have had closer examination.

A huge thank you to all who helped us to set up and run these events, and thanks again to everyone for your bravado in the face of most unpredictable wet weather I've ever experienced. We are already looking forward to next year!