Sheerness Dockyards Yellowtail Scorpion colony (UK)

Hi ive recently been reading about the Yellowtail (Euscorpius flavicaudis) scorpion colony that is in sheerness dockyard in the UK and wondered if anyone knew anything about it?

I read that they have been there nearly 200 years and in recent years, with global warming, have multiplied vigorously to between 10,000 and 15,000 and they they live in crevices in the wall , they only grow to about a couple of inches.

I know they are not entitled to protection as they are not a native species to britain and have read that they plan to sell the land where they are and plan to build loft apartments during dock redevelopment works.

I was wondering if anyone from the uk had visited this site? or if anyone knew how accessible it is? Am very tempted to go have a look as its only about 50 miles away.

That's not a bad looking scorpion. I would definitely go check it out. Even if you come back empty handed, it'll still be an adventure
I'm sure they have scattered a bit out of the range of the site as well, you never know. I also saw a few pics of them and they look very nice.

Is the dock on the west or east coast??

East coast Sheerness Dockyard in the Blue town area apparently, somewhere around here - 69 High St, Blue Town, Sheerness ME12 1RW‎ i google mapped it and the wall they are supposed to have colonised seems to run along the public road so easily accessed might head up there tomorrow

good luck =)
i hope it goes well for you

let me know how you get on bex i mite head over myself to take a look

Sheerness Success!!!

Well just returned from sheerness dockyard and am happy to say there was loads of scorpions i think we counted 20 in the few meters of the wall that we checked and managed to bring 4 home... YAY!!!

We was only there for an hour as had to get back for the kids but would love to have stayed for ages!!

we didnt go down into the actual dock itself we decided to check the outer wall first and as soon as we started to look we found some right next to where we parked!
will def be heading back up again at some point and will check the dock area as i believe there numbers will be much greater closer to the dock.

They wasnt very easy to catch as most of them was burried well in the cracks of the wall the ones we managed to get were either walking on the outside edge of the wall or in large cracks.... even saw some tiny (and i mean tiny) scorplings there was 3 in one crack they must of been about half a cm in size tried to take some photos but the lack of light and rubbish camera was agiansts us.
So anyway now our scorpion count is 12 lol

Nice one! Seriously well done thats awsome news. Did you use a blacklight or still found them without? That one in the wall looks well hunkered down, I like that pic cause I find it amazing we have wild scorps over here.

I just checked on my satnav and im only 60 odd miles away from there, considering poping down there soon. Maybe at the weekend. Was the place easy to find?

Thanx yeah we used a blacklight would have been impossible to find otherwise! They was all well hiden in the cracks but you get the odd one walking on the outside of the wall and some where the cracks are wide enough you can get behind them to coax them out...was awesome still cant believe how many there are and we only checked a few meters... and the fact they are in the uk is amazing ...was actually quite exciting lol...

they did appear to be more at one end of the wall than the other the east side nearer to the roundabout...use this postcde and you can park right up next to the wall ME12 1RN.
Its very easy to get to its main roads all the way ...this is pic of the wall off google maps and the other marks where we found them ( red box marks the spot)

thats awsome, gotta get down there and check it out. they look a little like them madras scorps.

Manser wrote:

thats awsome, gotta get down there and check it out. they look a little like them madras scorps.

They do look very simular to madras adults with the yellow legs...would def recomend a visit, we are going to head up again at some point

sounds like a very interesting spot! i have to see it!

gonna try and go this weekend

Few more pics.....

they're so cool i wasnt some!

They are very small all these are under an inch in length but yeah very cool! well happy with them!

Manser wrote:

gonna try and go this weekend

Let us know how you get on if you do go......

euscorpius flavicaudis eating prey nearly equal in size to itself!



and glowing

nice pics bex gotta try n get down there soon and get some for myself.

Heres a pic of our new enclosure we decided to try them all together..they have been like this a few weeks now without any problems so far and we beleive we have 2 male and 2 female, we did have them in individual cricket tubs but thought they may do better as a group

Really didnt know how to do their set up as they are used to living in a brick wall in this counrtry but ive read in their traditional habitat of North-west Africa and southern Europe they are found in gardens, forests, under stones, in houses and in old walls, so i think they can adapt to anything really

nice set-up bex. how are they getting on?

They seem to be fine they are eating well too (prly feeding them too much to be honest) not sure though i read they can survive on 5 feeds a year but who knows how often they where managing to feed in the wall there was definatly a lot of bugs and stuff there for them to feed on...also been suprised at how active they can be too really glad we got some

sweet. its messed up how they have survived through our c%#p winters. its about an hour's drive tops for me so im gona get down there,, could do with geting a black light or sumthing, would help to find them.

We got a blacklight from maplins like a money checker thing but found it wasn't so good so got a uv led torch off eBay instead which is much better, I wouldn't go without one it would be a pointless journey you have no chance of spotting them without a blacklight

Think it took us about 40 mins to get there when we went and was pretty much a straight road the whole way

wow you actually found them??!!! i thought it was a bit of a myth but we had a meet planned to go down there (a year or two ago). i dont know if it went ahead eventually but i didnt go. now that we know they are there maybe we should arrange a trip down there and see how many we can find! definately going down there to add some to my collection... i wonder if they would stay in my garden???