3.5mm adult male Distinguished Jumping Spider, Attulus distinguendus, found at Swanscombe Peninsula, 31st August 2026.
The Distinguished Jumping Spider - (Attulus distinguendus, previously Sitticus distinguendus until 2017)
The Distinguished Jumping Spider is one of 37 species found in the UK from the family Salticidae, known as the Jumping Spiders. Throughout the world the family Salticidae consists of over 5000 different species of Jumping Spider. The Distinguished Jumping Spider is one of Britain's rarest spiders. In fact this tiny spider is so rare that it helped to save 1150 acres of brownfield site for wildlife in north Kent, halted a 3.5 billion pound theme park development, drove a development firm into administration, prevented the building of thousands of new houses and cost the people of SE England approximately 27,000 potential jobs! So what makes the Distinguished Jumping Spider so special you may ask? In the UK the Distinguished Jumping Spider is confined to just two small sites in the south-east of England, both in the Thames Gateway. The first is Thurrock Marshes, in south Essex, and the second is a site directly opposite, on the other side of the River Thames, on the Swanscombe Peninsula, in north Kent. Both locations are marshland and brownfield sites, which are known to be home to many different rare species of both flora and fauna. The Distinguished Jumping Spider is a ground dwelling species and has very specific habitat requirements. Its preferred habitat consists of dry, rocky, very sparsely vegetated soil, with a high salt content, usually at coastal sites. In Britain The Distinguished jumping spider is a conservation priority. It's classed as critically Endangered, and has been placed on the UK list of Biodiversity Action Plan species. But it's not just in the UK where this spider is considered to be rare. Attulus distinguendus is established in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania and the Netherlands. In the majority of these countries Attulus distinguendus is considered to be rare, vulnerable, threatened or endangered. This is due largely to loss of habitat, or unsympathetic land management of the sites where Attulus distinguendus is established.
The Distinguished Jumping Spider is a fairly small species of Jumping Spider, with adult male specimens reaching a maximum of 3-5mm, with most specimens measuring just 3.5-4mm. The slightly larger females typically reach around 4.5-5.5mm. The Distinguished Jumping Spider has been recorded in Britain throughout the summer months from April to September, but most records in the UK are from July and September.
Distinguished Jumping Spider in news headlines.
The Swanscombe Peninsula is an industrial wasteland, with a history of quarries, industrial firms, and landfill. It's also now a perfect example of a rewilded brownfield site. Once a busy industrial complex this now abandoned, derelict site, littered with the remnants of old buildings from its past, has been reclaimed by nature and has given way to a huge number of wildlife species, many of which are considered as nationally scarce or rare. Brownfield sites often provide a valuable oasis for wildlife, in the heart of our busy towns and cities. Swanscombe Peninsula is home to more than 1,700 different invertebrate species, including the critically endangered Distinguished Jumping Spider.
In recent years a large part of the Swanscombe Peninsula has been under enormous pressure from developers from 2008 until 2025. The site very nearly found itself as the home for a huge £3.5 billion Disney-style theme park for the Paramount company. The Government were in full support of the proposed new theme park and had given the developers about £300 million of investment from the then-Conservative Party chancellor, George Osborne, in 2015 to kickstart the project. Thankfully due to huge public outcry, and the support from Buglife, the RSPB, the KWT, and various other conservation groups, celebrities, and thousands of Save Swanscombe Peninsula volunteers, the site was eventually recognised for its huge importance to nature. On 10th November 2021 Buglife were able to confirm that Natural England were planning to award the site with SSSI status. In February 2025 Kent On Line reported that the plans for at least 1300 new homes had also been thwarted by the presence of the Distinguished Jumping Spider.
Swanscombe Peninsula, 31st August 2026.
Swanscombe Marshes is largely open to the public but there seems to be a growing number of restricted areas I've noticed appearing in recent years, with new fences and locked gates being erected continually. Thankfully the areas where the Distinguished Jumping Spider have been recorded are currently still publicly accessible At some of these areas you may need to ignore the "private property" warning signs ,which have recently been displayed on several footpaths.
Finding the Distinguished Jumping Spider is no easy feat, even if you know where to look. With the spiders being so small they're not easy to spot. These spiders are also very well camouflaged against the habitat in which they reside. Attulus distinguendus are a ground dwelling Jumping Spider so the specimens that have previously been found at Swanscombe Marshes in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2012 and 2019 have been captured from the ground. All these specimens were found either by using pitfall traps or vacuum collectors, with the exception of one specimen, which was found by searching the ground by hand, and it turned up in the crack of a dried up puddle on bare ground. During 2026 records of the Distinguished Jumping Spider have increased significantly since the discovery of the very small area of stony ground, where they seem to be well established. On one particular day during 2026 a total of 20 specimens were recorded at Swanscombe Peninsula. I had personally performed many searches for this species at Swanscombe Peninsula, down on my hands and knees, between the years of 2016 and 2025, with no success finding any specimens at all. It wasn't until fellow naturalist, Luke Chambers, made me aware of the small area of stony ground that I was finally able to find and photograph the Distinguished Jumping Spider for myself. So very grateful thanks to Luke! On my visit on the 31st August 2026 I began my search, once again on my hands and knees. I turned over rock after rock for over an hour without finding any Distinguished Jumping Spiders. They the dull cloudy day began to give way to clearer skies, and once the sun began to break through the clouds it didn't take long before the first Distinguished Jumping Spider was spotted, as it jumped across the surface of the rocks. This was an adult male, measuring 3.5mm in body-length. My continued turning over of the rocks gave me no success for another hour of searching, but during that hour a further three adult male specimens were observed on the top of the rocks, all measuring between 3-4mm. A little later in the day, once the sky had clouded over yet again, I resumed my search in the hope of finding an adult female specimen to photograph. Although the females managed to elude me throughout the day I did eventually find another adult male specimen, and two tiny 2 - 2.5mm juvenile specimens taking cover under the rocks. This brought my day's total count to five adult males and two small juveniles, my most successful day of hunting Distinguished Jumping Spiders so far.
3.5mm adult male Distinguished Jumping Spider, Attulus distinguendus, found at Swanscombe Peninsula, 31st August 2026.
Thurrock Marshes
The Thurrock Marshes site is also known as the Oliver Road Lagoon. This 98 acre privately accessible site is owned by the Land Trust, and maintained largely by the Essex Wildlife Trust, with volunteer work also provided by Buglife, The Invertebrate Conservation Trust and Land of the Fanns. This brownfield site was once the location of Thurrock Power Station. The site now consists of a mixture of bare ground, flower-rich grassland, woodland and wetland. The habitat where the spiders have been found is mainly dry, sparsely vegetated ground, close to seasonally wet areas. The soil consists of a fine sand-like substrate, rich in Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA), which has proven to be highly beneficial for wildlife. There have been over 1,300 different species of invertebrates, birds and reptiles recorded here, of which around 50 species are classified as rare in Britain. In 2008 the conservation group, Buglife, had to take court action to prevent development on the site, and save the many thousands of wildlife species there, that have now made this site their home, including the critically endangered Distinguished Jumping Spider.
