Small Blue (Cupido minimus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - butterfly > Butterfly |
| 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: | Cupido minimus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Fuessly, 1775) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Fox & Dennis, 2021 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | GB Red List (Fox et al. 2022): NT. 24% decline in abundance since 1979 and a 6% short-term (10 year 2010-2019) decline; statistically significant 45% long-term decline in distribution since 1983 and a 14% short-term decline (Fox et al. 2023) |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | A wide variety of habitats can be used by Small Blue and can colonise newly created sites, especially if close to existing colonies. Maintaining early successional mosaic habitat with plentiful Kidney Vetch is required and where such management is targeted the species responds well. |
| 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: | Yes |
| Justification: | The species has slowed in abundance and distribution trends; has low to moderate dispersal ability but appears quick to colonise nearby suitable sites and would benefit with availability of mosaic habitat at the landscape-scale. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | Building Sites for Butterflies project has trialled and adopted habitat creation methods for this species |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Review current status and occupancy distribution of the species to be able to identify and target key landscapes for the species where habitat creation opportunities should be targeted.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
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.