The atlas has been compiled from the records of the Spider Recording Scheme for Staffordshire, the local section of the National Scheme organised by the British Arachnological Society in collaboration with the national Biological Records Centre at Monks Wood. This publication follows the Watsonian Vice-county of Staffordshire (VC39) for the extent of recording, however some records from the Tamworth area (ex-Warwickshire VC38) are within modern Staffordshire and have been included.
At the end of 1999, the Spider Recording Scheme finished its fieldwork for the forthcoming national atlas of Spiders. As a result, I decided to use the Staffordshire data to produce an on-line atlas of Spiders of the Vice-county of Staffordshire (VC39), including most of modern Staffordshire together with parts of Birmingham and the Black Country, notably, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall and West Bromwich.
This atlas is an extension of the “Checklist of the Spiders of Staffordshire” (1991) published by the Staffordshire Biological Records Centre – this listed c370 species of spider for Staffordshire, the list has now exceeded 400 species, although there are a few from a list early last Century by L.A.Carr (Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club) which are somewhat suspect and though included here, there is some doubt as to their authenticity.
Although we have tried to cover the whole of Staffordshire during the survey, the coverage has not been even throughout. The map to the left shows the numbers of species found in each 10km square – the larger the dot, the more species found. The very large dot for SK10 is due to the work of L.A.Carr mentioned above.
This atlas would have been impossible without the sterling efforts of an enthusiastic group of spider recorders, in particular my Spider Recording Scheme colleagues Wayne Rixom, John Stanney and John Bates who supplied the majority of the recent records.
I would also like to thank the many other recorders listed below, who have sent in records for the scheme (my apologies to anyone I have omitted):
G.A.Arnold, M.A.Arnold, M.Bailey (EN), S.Barnes (SWT), K.P.Bloor (Potteries Museum), M.G.Bloxham (SandNats), D.R.Cowden (SRS), S.Dobson (SRS), J.P.Field, G.Halfpenny (Staffs BRC), R.Harvey (SRS), C.C.Hills (SOTES), I.J.Hopkins (SOTES), C.Johnson, J.P.Leigh, Dr P.Merrett (SRS), T.Mountain, J.R.Parker (SRS), D.A.Procter (SRS), Dr M.J.Roberts (SRS), C.J.Smith (SRS National Organiser), R.Snazell (SRS), Stoke-on-Trent Environmental Survey (SOTES), Staffordshire Biological Records Centre, Staffordshire Wildlife trust (SWT), J.Walker (SOTES), Dr P.A.Walker, M.Waterhouse (RSPB), M.R.Weston (SOTES), A.J.White (SRS), A.M.Wild.
In addition, I would like to thank Peter Merrett for confirming first County Record status for several of the later records and for checking my identifications. And finally, if it were not for the ‘gentle persuasion’ of John Dalingwater, I would not be associated with the Spider Recording Scheme and this atlas would not have been possible.
The first record of spiders in Staffordshire is 1686 by Dr. Robert Plot in his Natural History of Staffordshire (p 238):
“There are another ſort of inſects too de genere απιερωυ, which in ſome ſence alſo may be allowed to fly, ſuch are all Spiders (except thoſe long-legged ones we call Shepherds, which never ſpin any thred) which in October cheifly, will turn up their tailes and project one or more threds with that violence, that they shall reach croſs roomes, over rivers, and be faſtened betwixt trees, in plano Horizontis, at ſeveral fathoms diſtance; and ſometimes will dart them into the Air to ſuch a length, that the Spiders leaping up after them, will be carryed into the air, and there ſaile at the end of theſe threds to a great height and diſtance:”
The first identified records of spiders are to be found in “The Natural History of Staffordshire” (1844) by Robert Garner and this has formed the starting point for arachnology in the County.
There was then a scattering of records during the latter part of the 19th. Century, but the majority of early records date from the early 20th. Century – a checklist of over 300 species was amassed by L.A.Carr from the Lichfield area and several notable arachnologists visited the County, including Rev. O.Pickard-Cambridge and A.R.Jackson (the latter noting Porrhomma pallidum for Staffordshire in 1900-02 before he described the species in 1913).
L.A.Carr continued to record spiders up to the early 1920s, but then there is very little information until A.M.Wild began recording in the mid-1950s continuing into the mid-1960s. The late-1960s saw the start of modern arachnology both nationally and in Staffordshire, with the start of the first Spider Recording Scheme by Dr Peter Merrett and with visits from several current BAS experts, particularly to Chartley Moss National Nature Reserve, and there has been a regular flow of data from various resident naturalists throughout the County.
The Spider Recording Scheme was resurrected nationally in 1987 by the late Clifford Smith, and I joined in 1988 becoming Area Organiser for Staffordshire. Since that time the number of records has increased considerably, with several registered recorders resident in Staffordshire, two notable contributors have been Wayne Rixom (now sadly deceased) and John Stanney (now Montgomery Area Organiser).
The following table shows the numbers of species found in Staffordshire, in each of the habitat categories used by the Spider Recording Scheme.
It is clear that deciduous woodland is the most diverse habitat for spiders, which is not unexpected, but that heathland come second is more surprising. Heathlands in Staffordshire comprise the uplands of the Peak District and the lowlands of Cannock Chase and its surrounds.
The following table shows the numbers of species found in Staffordshire, in each month throughout the year.
M.Bloxham (1986)
Wildlife of the Sandwell Valley Sandwell Valley Field Naturalists’ Club
W.S.Bristowe (1939, 1941)
Comity of Spiders (2 volumes) Ray Society
E.Brown (1863)
The Fauna and Flora of The District Surrounding Tutbury and Burton-on-Trent in O.Mosley The Natural History of Tutbury John Van Voorst
L.A.Carr (1918/19)
The Spiders, Harvestmen and Pseudoscorpions of Lichfield and Neighbourhood TNSFCS.
Dobson (1987)
A Provisional List of Derbyshire Spiders The Derbyshire Entomological Society
R.Garner (1844)
The Natural History of the County of Stafford John Van Voorst
G.H.Locket & A.F.Millidge (1951, 1953)
British Spiders (Volumes I & II) Ray Society
G.H.Locket, A.F.Millidge & P.Merrett (1974)
British Spiders (Volume III) Ray Society
W.Page (Ed. 1908)
The Victoria History of the County of Stafford (Volume I) Archibald Constable & Co.
W.Pitt (1817)
A Topolographical History of Staffordshire
R.Plot (1686)
Natural History of Staffordshire The Theatre, Oxford
G.C.Slawson (1991)
A Checklist of the Spiders of Staffordshire City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
S.O.T.E.S. (1984)
The Wildlife of Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent {Records held at the Staffs BRC}
A.M.Wild (1957)
Notes on the Biology and Distribution of some British Spiders Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 12, vol. x
A.M.Wild
Personal field notebook covering the years mid-1950s to early 1960s.
National Biological Records Centre
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, WALLINGFORD, Oxfordshire. OX10 8BB
E-mail brc@ceh.ac.uk
Spider Recording Scheme
Mr Peter Harvey (National Organiser), 32, Lodge Lane, GRAYS, Essex. RM16 2YP
E-mail grays@peterharvey.freeserve.co.uk
British Arachnological Society
Pip Collyer (Secretary),
E-mail secretary@britishspiders.org.uk
Staffordshire Ecological Record
c/o Staffordshire Wildlife Trust
E-mail info@staffs-ecology.org.uk
Staffordshire Invertebrate Group
Dr D.R.Skingsley (Secretary)
E-mail secretary@staffs-inverts.org.uk
EcoRecord the Ecological Database for the Black Country and Birmingham
28 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, BIRMINGHAM. B15 3AA (Tel: 0121 454 1808)
E-mail enquiries@ecorecord.org.uk
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust
The Wolseley Centre, Wolseley Bridge, STAFFORD. ST17 0WT (Tel: 01889 880100)
E-mail info@staffs-wildlife.org.uk
Staffordshire Spider Recording Scheme
Mr G.C.Slawson (Area Organiser)
E-mail craig@staffs-ecology.org.uk
