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Sussex biological recording news

Autumn has arrived here in Sussex and these rainy days could be a good opportunity to start sending us your records!

But there's still lots of fantastic wildlife out there to be seen, if you don't mind braving the showers. The season is just getting started for fungi, and perhaps a new waxcap identification tool will tempt you out into a churchyard or grassland near you. It's also a great time of year for enjoying bryophytes and the British Bryological Society South East Group has an interesting programme of field trips lined up, open to everyone including absolute beginners.

Kelp gets the star treatment

Kelp beds, and the diversity of marine species which can be found in this iconic Sussex habitat, get the star treatment in a short film released this week – narrated by David Attenborough. If you didn't catch it on the BBC yesterday, you can watch the film on the Sussex Wildlife Trust website.

Volunteer divers play a crucial role recording life off the Sussex coast – helping to monitor the health of our marine environment. So this seems like a prime opportunity for a shout out to the Sussex Seasearch community, keep doing what you do!

What's happening with the distribution of social wasps?

Read Mike Edwards' blog post on the changes in distribution from 2000 in social wasps, then take a look at the revised Vespine wasps key and see if you can contribute some records to help build a better picture of wasp distribution in Sussex.

Image credit: Paul Hobson

Save the date!

The date for the 31st Sussex Biological Recorders' Seminar is Saturday 15 February 2020 at Oathall Community College, Haywards Heath. We're working on the programme at the moment and aiming for the usual eclectic mix of wildlife talks and local interest.

We'll let all our subscribers know when booking opens in early December.

First record for East Sussex: Holly-leaved Naiad Najas marina

A first for East Sussex and a second record for the Sussex region, this rare plant is usually only found in the Norfolk Broads. You can read the full account of this exciting find by the Environment Agency at Darwell Reservoir on the SxBRC news page.

Image credit: EA

SxBRC annual report

To find out more about the business of Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre and the range of services we provide, please read our annual report for 2018-19.

We couldn't do what we do without the support of the Sussex biological recording community. Thank you!

Cover image credit: Pete Hughes

Species of the month: Pink Waxcap Porpolomopsis calyptriformis

Read our species of the month feature for a profile of the Pink Waxcap and how to tell it apart from some other pink mushrooms you might come across.

Clare Blencowe is also looking for volunteers to help field test a new online 'grassland waxcap identification support tool', hosted by SxBRC.

National Moth Night celebrates 20th anniversary

Moths made the paper in Sussex last month, as the Midhurst & Petworth Observer ran a feature on National Moth Night, here.

The Clifden Nonpareil was one of the species that people were asked to look out for. You can find out more about its status in Sussex on the Sussex Moth Group website.

Image credit: Dave & Penny Green

Free British Wildlife Magazines

SxBRC volunteer Peter Challis is looking to donate his collection of British Wildlife magazines to a good home. If you'd be interested in taking them they are free to collect from Woods Mill as a job lot - please email hedgerows@sussexwt.org.uk.

Local News
Get ready for the bryophyte recording season by catching up on 'The bryophyte year 2018', recently published on the Sussex Bryophytes blog alongside some beautifully illustrated accounts of bryophyte recording trips to Friston Forest and Tide Mills.

A team from the UK Native Seed Hub at Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank has been undertaking surveys and harvesting seed on a chalk grassland site at Marquee Brow, Stanmer Park.

Sussex birders were tweeting snippets from the first Sussex Ornithological Society Fieldworkers Meeting on 28 September (see here and here). Great to hear they had 86 people attend - showing their enthusiasm for Sussex bird surveys.

Upcoming Events

Clare Blencowe from SxBRC will be giving a talk about biological recording in Sussex at the Harriet Johnson Centre in Sompting tomorrow evening, at 7pm on Wednesday 2 October – in association with the EPIC project.

ATF Sussex will be visiting Cowdray Park on Saturday 19 October. Places are limited and must be booked through the Ancient Tree Forum website.

Botanical drawings and watercolours from Sussex are being shown at a Sussex Archaeological Society running through to 31 December at Barbican House Museum in Lewes. More details on the Sussex Botanical Recording Society website.

National News

There's a new identification guide to British beetle larvae: https://www.fscbiodiversity.uk/blog/new-identification-guide-british-beetle-larvae

The People's Trust for Endangered Species has launched a new hedgerow survey

Botanical Illustrator Marjorie Blamey has died at the age of 101 - you can read her obituary which talks of her life and work in the Guardian Obituaries

Read through the British Lichen Society's #lichenstory posts on twitter

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Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre · Woods Mill · Henfield, England BN5 9SD · United Kingdom