Small Grey Sedge (Glossosoma intermedium)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - caddis fly (Trichoptera) > Caddisfly |
| Red List Status: | Critically Endangered (Not Relevant) [CR(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: | Glossosoma intermedium |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Klapalek, 1892) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Wallace, 2016 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | IUCN status awarded as intensive post 2000 surveys of its few sites have failed to find it. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | There are currently no known sites and the proposed actions are to try and remedy that situation. |
| 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: | General habitat diversification is unlikely to benefit this rare species. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | It is thought the species may have been made extinct by cypermethrin sheep dip pollution. Climate change may also be a factor in its decline. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Undertake literature search and make email enquiries to see if this species has been recorded in eDNA surveys. If answer is yes then method used could be translated to look for it at all its old sites.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Hayeswater Tarn inflow, Pull Beck, Hoathwaite Beck, Kirkstone Beck
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Inform land managers of sites for this species, advise on appropriate management for the species and the consequent value or any stick control measures.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Advice & support
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
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.