At home they have an array of guides to Britain’s flora and fauna, more
powerful microscopes, and crucially, powerful computer databases which
record their findings.

Overseeing the contest is Mark Telfer, who maintains a website which is
tracking their progress.

All three are wildlife consultants, meaning they use their days at work in the
open air to look for species they have still to see.

Any animal, plant, fungus, or protist – organisms such as lichens and seaweed
– can be included on a spotter’s list, unless it is in a zoo or botanical
garden.

Dr Denton, 44, said: “I only totted up all my records after hearing that David
[Gibbs] had got more than 9,000.

“David did a lot last year to catch up and I am not going to let him beat me.”

Around a quarter of the species on Dr Denton’s list are beetles (2,573), but
it also includes 389 birds and 49 mammals. Two of the beetles listed, as
well as a spider, had never previously been recorded in Britain, until
discovered by Dr Denton.

His “top ten” favourite species so far recorded range from familiar sights
such as the blackbird and the brown hare, to rarer sights like the spring
gentian, a blue flower.

He has also drawn up a wishlist of the five he is most keen to see – which is
given extra piquancy because he knows that two of them have already been
seen by Mr Gibbs.

One is the Pallas’s Sandgrouse, a bird from central Asia which was last seen
in the UK more than 20 years ago in the Shetlands. When it appeared Mr Gibbs
travelled to see it from his then home in Berkshire. The other is a ghost
orchid, a rare flower.

Dr Denton’s strategy to reach 10,000 is to now look closer to home, in his own
garden at his home in Four Monks, Hampshire.

“I have gone little. I am going to get my microscope out,” he said. “There are
hundreds of tiny things that I could find in my own pond.”

Species spotting is only one of his many hobbies. He also has a collection of
1,600 model aircraft, 100 model trains and a 100 toy tanks and trucks and
believes he has visited every cathedral, football league ground and town in
England.

He also plays the clarinet and the accordion, is a keen astronomer and
cricketer and has seen every episode of The Simpsons, Star Trek and The
Twilight Zone.

He said: “I used to train spot as well and saw every mainline locomotive in
the 1980s bar eight. I know all this makes me sound like the saddest man in
Britain. But I don’t go to pubs and don’t drink. You’d be amazed how much
time people waste doing those sorts of things. ”

A father of three daughters aged eight, 11 and 13, Dr Denton, divorced four
years ago, but said his ex-wife had been supportive of his hobbies.

“She is the daughter of quite a famous naturalist in the area, so grew up
doing this sort of thing before she met me,” he said.

Mr Gibbs , 52, from Bristol, closed the gap on Dr Denton’s list last year but
said his chances of overhauling him before the 10,000 figure were now
fading.

“There is certainly a smidgen of competition there, but the gap is still quite
big,” he said.

Almost a third of his list is made up of flies (2,974), three of which he
discovered for the first time in Britain, and 1,191 are lepidoptera, which
include moths and butterflies, which first sparked his interest in wildlife
as a child. His list also includes 23 fish and four seaweed species.

Mr Gibbs, also a wildlife consultant, said: “People do sneer about listing
like this. I let it wash over. The counting is a by-product of what we do.
People who put this amount of time and energy into this are interested in
the science too.”

Dr Telfer, 41, who is third place in the list with 5,962 species spotted, as
well as keeping the website, said: “Britain has always had phenomenal
naturalists, who are undaunted by how much biodiversity there is in this
country. This listing is quite a British thing to do.

“There is a competitive element. And that is healthy if you don’t take it too
far. If more people took an interest in British wildlife, they would develop
skills that are sorely needed for conservation.”

The highest placed “amateur” is currently Malcolm Storey, a 61-year-old
retired IT consultant currently in fourth position, on 5,284. The only woman
in the top ten, Sarah Patton, is in seventh place on 2,729. The youngest is
Josh Jenkins-Shaw, a 17-year-old currently on 1,017 but seen as a possible
future leader of the list.

But nobody is near a complete record of British wildlife: the best estimate is
that there are 70,000 species in the UK, leaving the winner with 60,000 more
if he wants to make sure he is never overtaken.

“Species spotting” is a new craze among British naturalists. Here are the
rules.

A spotter’s list can include any species of animal, plant, fungus or protist –
a group of organisms which include seaweeds and plankton – that they have
“seen” in Britain or Ireland.

The spotter can list any item viewed through a microscope, binoculars or with
their own eyes.

Bacteria cannot be counted. Also excluded are any animals seen only in
captivity – such as zoo and farm animals – as well as agricultural crops,
garden plants and species at, for instance, Kew Gardens in London.

However, any alien species which becomes established in the wild can be
counted; for example, wild boar which have escaped from captivity, or exotic
plants which have spread out from Kew and grown nearby. Similarly, racing
pigeons and domestic cats do not count, but a feral pigeon and a Scottish
Wildcat would.

Humans are permitted – and so are nits in hair. Marine life is included within
UK or Irish waters.

Fossils cannot be counted, because they are dead, but there is still debate as
to whether other, more recently deceased specimens can be included.