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The Big Thousand

 I’m very much a generalist when it comes to natural history. Wildlife filmmaking often means that I know a little bit of everything, with a few specific subjects that I know more about. But I have massive blind spots. I can’t tell you much about anything plant related, and I have only been rock-pooling a couple of times. Beetles, I’m bad at, and moths are a mystery. And those are the popular groups of species. Molluscs, Lichens, mosses, flies and more; these are all areas of ecology that are mostly ignored by all but a few people with niche interests. This year, I am hoping to cover it all. My resolution for 2026 is to record 1,000 species in the UK.

Like every new year’s resolution, 1,000 is a soft target. If I was smart, the phrasing would be “to get better at my ID skills” or “record species whenever reasonable”, but there is something satisfying about big round numbers. I can break it down to 2.74 new species a day. I can confidently say that I am 7.2% of the way through my target. It’s something exciting that I can talk about now. The reality is that by December, I’ll be either so way over or under 1,000 that the original target becomes a moot point.

So far, I have seen 72 species this year, the vast majority of them birds. The first trip to Rye Harbor started on a high, with species such as Grey Plover and Marsh Harrier. I even counted 135 Coot, by far the most I had seen in one place. I’m still slightly surprised that it wasn’t a complete bloodbath, Coots having a reputation for fighting anything that vaguely looks alive. It’s not all been birds, one of my favourite sightings has been a brown rat in a damp Crawley alleyway. I’m not surprised to meet Rattus in my hometown, but it still counts towards the list. And of course, who could forget the Firecrest that I saw in Brighton.

 I’m not just going for the big stuff. To try and boost my numbers, I’ve purchased an FSC foldout guide about lichens on twigs. Half an hour with a bit of snapped off apple tree has revealed a completely new world to me. The small shapes and forms that twist and grip our garden twigs are as mesmerising and colourful as coral. It’s the little, overlooked species which will make or break my goal.

At the heart of this project is my big book of nature sightings, an already battered diary repurposed as a daily tally sheet. It’s a little more than just a way to jot down obscure fungi that have found, it is also a good physical object to show people. Previously, I have used the irecord app on my phone, but making notes this way can be a bit unsociable. Now, I can make records without needing a screen, and then flick through the pages when I want to share something cool that I have seen. Even better, I can smother the cover with stickers and really make it mine. So far, a single blue butterfly sits alone, but I’m sure I can find some more with time.

 It turns out that I am not the only person who has set a target number for species to count this year. Actually, I’m not even the only person in Sussex with this idea. Graeme Lyons is attempting a spectacular 6,000 species, which is a mindboggling amount, (he does have the benefit of being a professional ecologist) (Lyons, 2025). Graeme is an advocate for pan species listing, which is essentially recording everything and anything. This is in contrast to just doing birds, or just moths. Some people can get really into this approach, with a website and leaderboard to boot (Pan-Species Listing, n.d.). Inadvertently, I have become a pan-species lister.

Of course, counting everything on a daily basis is creating a lot of data. This can be particularly useful for scientists, ecologists, and spreadsheet lovers everywhere. For me personally, I’ve been uploading my lists to irecord, where species can be verified by experts, and then collated into a national database. Locally, this information goes to The Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, who can then make reports for planning applications or conservationists (SxBRC, n.d.).

If you would like to have a go at listing, but don’t know where to start, the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch is a brilliant way in, and is happening this weekend, (23-25th of January, 2026) (RSPB, n.d.).

References
Lyons, G. (2025, December 3). 6000 species in 2026. Retrieved from The Lyons Share: https://analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2025/12/6000-species-in-2026.html

Pan-Species Listing. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pan-Species Listing: https://panspecieslisting.com/

RSPB. (n.d.). Big Garden Birdwatch. Retrieved from RSPB: https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch

SxBRC. (n.d.). Retrieved from Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre: https://sxbrc.org.uk/home/index.php

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