We began to identify the spiders we found on a casual basis in late 2009 and continue to devote most of our recording time to the NNR's coleoptera and lepidoptera.

One species we quickly came across was Zora silvestris. This relatively uninspiring spider, is now also one of the country's rarest, or at least that is what available data held by the British Arachnological Society suggests.

Nationally, this spider is known only from very few sites and is currently assigned RDB2 status. In view of it's current status within the UK, perhaps RDB1 is probable at some date in the future. Known sites include Hurt Wood in Surrey in 1953, Iken Heath in East Suffolk in 1955, Ambersham Common in West Sussex in 1969 and Sherwood Forest from 1978 onwards. (Source:- The British Arachnological Society Spider Recording Scheme)

Available BAS data shows that the only confirmed post 1992 records of Z. silvestris in the UK, are all from Sherwood Forest, where it was first recorded by a BAS survey team as recently as 1978. Since then, further records have occurred sporadically between 1987 and 2011. Virtually all records are from the Sherwood Forest Country Park area, until we found one during an invertebrate assemblage survey of Budby South Forest in July 2010.

Gleadthorpe Open has been completely untouched for as long as anyone can remember and longer, but although stands of mature heather are extremely limited here, where the heather grows over bare ground has generally proved to be productive when searching for Z. silvestris. We have also noted several individuals sunning themselves on fence posts in the early Spring of 2010 here.

In May 2011, we were able to see this area from 60 feet up, giving us a unique view of this fabulous piece of the forest. From the ground, Gleadthorpe Open looks nothing like this, but it is home to a wide range of spider species as well as Z. silvestris.

Before proceeding further, we must point out that the correct identification of most spiders in the field is not possible without microscopic examination of key features. Some species can be identified from good quality photographs that allow key ID features to be seen well, but in practice, getting useful photographs for this purpose in the field is virtually impossible. One of the key determining ID features is the number of pairs of ventral spines on metatarsi 1 and 2. In Z. silvestris there are two pairs of spines, whilst Z. spinimana has three pairs. These are not usually visible from photographs.