Bronze Bolete (Boletus aereus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Fungus or lichen > fungus > Fungus |
| Red List Status: | Near Threatened (Not Relevant) [NT(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Boletus aereus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Bull. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Ainsworth et al., 2013 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Redlisted as Near Threatened (2013) - Extant in the New Forest and Windsor estate |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Without evidence of the current national status of this species it will be very difficult to assess if there are any other species-specific actions required for its conservation; or if it is need of conservation at all. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | There is no evidence that an increase in the structural diversity of the habitat will directly benefit this species. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Policy conflict (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Reversing habitat fragmentation and improving habitat management near existing sites will be key to the conservation of this species |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: An assessment of the necessary national species records should be made according to IUCN guidelines to provide a recognised redlist status criteria for this species.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: N/A
Comments: As the IUCN recognised assessment for this species is out of date, this action should be prioritised.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: DNA survey of thermophilic boletus sites
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Bolete fruiting has anecdotally drastically diminished leading to fewer records. It's not clear whether this is an environmental issue, or some key sites like Windsor/New Forest where there have been obvious changes in recording patterns. eDNA survey would help to determine whether these species are still present as mycelium
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Research into inoculation of saplings with mycorrhiza of this species
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: N/A
Comments: tree inoculation should be trialled. Successful inoculation would allow for rapid colonisation of new sites
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.