There are three species of cardinal beetle in the UK but only two that occur in Sussex. The Red-headed Cardinal Pyrochroa serraticornis and the Black-headed Cardinal Pyrochroa coccinea. Although the two species are similar, the Black-headed is slightly bigger on average, has a black head and is a slightly more vibrant red.
Welcome to the website of the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, one of the many local environmental record centres situated around the UK. We provide environmental information services encompassing biodiversity, geodiversity and other aspects of Sussex’s natural capital. We cover the two counties of East and West Sussex, including Brighton & Hove, in South East England. We are a small but dedicated team of environmental data managers, naturalists and IT specialists.
The Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre is managed as a partnership project, hosted by the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Our partners include local planning authorities, government agencies, conservation bodies and other organisations which need access to up-to-date biodiversity information, such as water companies.
Sussex has a vibrant and energetic biological recording community with many independent recording groups and societies. By strengthening relationships with these groups, and the wider network of naturalists, ecologists and recording schemes active in Sussex, the Record Centre facilitates sharing of ever-greater amounts of biodiversity data.
25 May: British Bryological Society SE Group - Field meeting: Sheffield Forest
There are three species of cardinal beetle in the UK but only two that occur in Sussex. The Red-headed Cardinal Pyrochroa serraticornis and the Black-headed Cardinal Pyrochroa coccinea. Although the two species are similar, the Black-headed is slightly bigger on average, has a black head and is a slightly more vibrant red.
18 May 2018
Treble Brown Spot - not the Pagham one but our millionth moth...
Treble Brown Spot - not the Pagham one but our millionth moth...
Of the 6,834,363 (at time of writing) records we have in the database, 3,008,242* of those are of birds, 1,075,751 are of flowering plants and, as of today, there is now a third taxonomic group with more than one million Sussex records - moths! Over the past few weeks we have collated and imported approximately 80,000 new records (the vast majority of which were collected in 2017) and thanks to the avid moth recording community in Sussex, the total now stands at 1,000,873. Every one of these records has also been passed through the rigorous scrutiny of our dedicated County Recorder for Lepidoptera, Colin Pratt.
I had hoped that record #1,000,000 would be of some spectacular or particularly scarce species but having checked the import logs it would appear that record #1,000,000 is of a Treble Brown Spot Idaea trigeminata - not particularly scarce or spectacular but undoubtedly an attractive little moth - It was recorded at Pagham Harbour last June.
*Sorry, birds - I’m a bit moth obsessed and didn’t notice you passing the 3 million records milestone.
10 April 2018
Join the quest for this elusive dragonfly.
The Common Clubtail Dragonfly is a near threatened species restricted to a handful of unpolluted, slow flowing rivers in England and Wales. We desperately need to understand the population size and distribution of this dragonfly to conserve it, but records for this elusive species are patchy and dated.
We intend to change that.
We are calling on all nature lovers to join us in the search for this beautiful insect. No previous experience in dragonfly identification is needed, we will teach you all you need to know to find this local specialist.
You can give as much or as little time as you like, with all efforts making a valuable contribution to the conservation of a symbolic riverine dragonfly.
It is fun and simple: take action now!
If you live near the Sussex Arun visit our website to book your survey square now!
If you have any questions, get in touch with our Conservation Officer, Genevieve Dalley.
Visit www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/content/clubtail-count
Download the BDS Clubtail Count 2018 poster here
