January 2026 – The ‘No’ Year Resolution
By Kerry Williams: Communications Officer – Conservation, Sussex Wildlife Trust
Happy New Year! However you choose to celebrate, I hope your festive season was full of peace, joy, and mega loads of cheese. I always have a new year’s resolution and try to make them positive. Apologise less. Dance more. Wear the shoes. Before you stop reading for fear of me going full ‘live, laugh, love’ don’t worry, I’m heading somewhere.
2026 is going to be the year of boundaries. As well-meaning humans, and especially in the UK, we can be a little too agreeable, put up with stuff, get on with it. But as nature illustrates, it doesn’t have to be this way.
There are not many better boundary-setting role models than those species who ward off others as standard. Camouflage antithesis, these creatures make themselves obvious to warn incomers that they’re not to be messed with. It’s called aposematism, a defence mechanism utilised by certain species across the board; invertebrates, plants, mammals, birds, fish and fungi. Told you I had a point.
There are a few different types of aposematism.
Aposematic colouration: deliberately bright colours to visually warn of a toxic taste to others (whether this is true or not). Think ladybirds, wasps and Cinnabar moth caterpillars, who are bright yellow to mirror the toxic traits taken on by their favourite food plant – Ragwort. Then there are Cuttlefish, whose colour-changing skills give them the option of disguise or bold vibrant attack.
Olfactory aposematism: repelling predators by producing a smell or foul-smelling substance. This dirty card is played by several species of shield bug, sometimes harshly but accurately known as stink bugs. Many plants are notable for this feature, including the strong-smelling Wild Garlic.
Auditory aposematism: sound as a deterrent. Many species make alarm calls to expose a nearby predator, like a Robin tick-ticking at the sight of a cat. But auditory aposematism is making a sound to directly warn of one’s own danger or distaste to others. A famous example is the Rattlesnake, which clatters its tail to give the heads up – “it’s not worth it mate”. Closer to home, the Garden Tiger moth rubs its wings together to make a rasping noise to the same effect.
Symbolic or tenuous, there’s no doubt these creatures have mastered the art of communicating their boundaries. In nature there’s no awkwardness, no deeper meaning, no overthink – imagine! So, in nature’s honour, this year I’ll be saying a lot more ‘no’. Hopefully with no need for any olfactory assistance.