A Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla wichurae)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(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: | Alchemilla wichurae |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Buser) Stefánsson |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | VU in England, localised in montane habitats in the Lake District, limestone pastures/tracksides in the Yorkshire Dales and hay meadows and pastures in Teesdale |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | In England the rare Alchemilla species rely on traditional hay meadow management (winter grazing, shutup for hay, July hay cut, no artificial fertilisers) or extensive grazing of pastures outside the summer months. Roadside populations rely on protection and sympathetic management (i.e. no flailing or repeated cuts in the summer months and the arisings removed) |
| 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: | This species could colonise new sites within Teesdale and Weardale where habitat restoration/creation takes place using green hay translocation |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Populations have been surveyed periodically but the current condition of most populations is unknown |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Review what is known about the plant to identify why it has declined at existing and disappeared from former sites
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: Not applicable
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Survey and assess condition of known/historic populations
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Using information from Action 2 develop a plan to protect and manage the outlying sites
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 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.