OK, I know ‘listing’ is a dirty word amongst proper sensible naturalists. So, if you are offended by the trivialisation of natural history to the mere accumulation of big tallies of species, please hit your Back button now!
For those committed fellow anoraks who choose to read on, this page is about pan-species listing for Britain and Ireland. As a schoolboy birder and twitcher, I wanted to get into other taxonomic groups and resolved an ambition to see 4,000 species of animals, plants and fungi in Britain and Ireland. Within the last few years, I’ve achieved that ambition and have been wondering how high could British and Irish pan-species listing go? These pages, I think, have the answer …
My purpose in putting together these rankings is not so much to encourage competition between listers but to encourage camaraderie amongst like-minded naturalists – and it’s worked really well. I know several other people who have been inspired to work out their pan-species lists (it can be quite a big job!). I’d love to hear from anyone who’d like to be added to the rankings, even if you only have an estimated list total at the moment.
A person’s pan-species list is a list of all the valid species of animals, plants, fungi and protists (i.e. everything except Bacteria) they have seen in Britain or Ireland. It excludes anything seen only in permanent captivity or culture (e.g. zoo or farm animals, crops, garden plants) but includes any alien which has established itself here even if it depends upon the inadvertent help of humans to persist (e.g. the many invertebrates which survive only in indoor environments). See The Rules (added 28th May 2011) for more info. Read more on the Birdguides website here. And see the Telegraph article about Jonty and Dave’s race to reach 10,000 here.
Has Jonty seen more of the wildlife of these islands than any other naturalist ever? I suspect that the modern-day record holder will also be the all-time record holder. I don’t think any naturalist of the past would have been able to do all the travelling required to see so much of the wildlife of Britain and Ireland. And modern day naturalists also have the benefit of modern websites, literature, technology and equipment which would have been the envy of previous generations. For a comparison from the 18th century, here’s Linnaeus’ pan-species list. I wonder if there are any mycologists who have seen more than two-thirds of the UK’s 14,682 species of fungi?
Hi Mark, as a birder who has seen most of the easily accessible species now in Britain, I’m looking for a new challenge. And I’m quite hooked on this concept. However, the problems of identification for a novice are enormous and can be quite discouraging. Any tips or advice on how to help break this barrier would be gratefully received.
Cheers Grahame
Hi Grahame,
As an accomplished birder, you have already mastered a very challenging taxonomic group and you should have nothing to fear from the rest of Britain’s biodiversity. Ok, well maybe steer clear of fungus gnats and aleocharine rove-beetles for a bit! The good news is that identifying British wildlife has never been easier. Across many groups there are excellent ID resources in print and online. And a major change since I started on beetles is that you no longer need a local mentor to help each time you get stuck: there’s now a supportive online community of coleopterists willing to share their expertise. The same goes for many other taxonomic groups. Enjoy the challenge! Mark
Just come across this Telferian sillyness – didn’t know about it – been too busy doing real entomology!!! However, for the hell of it I just asked MapMate how many invertebrates I have seen and it is close on 4000. However, I have only entered about a quarter of all my data. If I add on the birds (I used to put rings on them) and the fungi (I once wrote a paper on them) and the plants (I still pretend to recognise some of them) I reckon I must be up in the top 5 at least. Might even muster a few lacewings! When I get a spare lifetime I must get round to doing a formal count – just for the fun of dislodging a fellow nerd from his lofty position. 6134 seems to be a target worth aiming at? Pity I can’t count all my Eastern European stuff though!
Welcome Colin! I think Jonty and Dave will take some beating but I’m sure you would be able to bump me off third position. Trouble is it’s such a mammoth task to count up a pan-species list of several thousand. Maybe you could do an estimate? Mark