English Sandwort (Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica)
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: | Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | G.Halliday |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | The sole subspecies in England is Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica. |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | EN in England based on an estimate of <1000 plants in 2012 but more recent surveys have shown c.2000 plants across c.30 subpopulations. Possibly susceptible to climate change in the longer term |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species has a very restricted distribution and requires very specific conditions |
| 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: | This species would not benefit from untargeted management |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | All populations are surveyed periodically (c.5 years) and autecology well understood but overall numbers vary dramatically from year to year |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Ensure populations are monitored on a regular basis to monitor trends for recovery
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites: Ingleborough NNR
Comments: Current surveys are carried out on a voluntarily basis
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Maintain cattle grazing on Sulber Pasture and reduce sheep grazing on other pastures where it occurs on Ingleborough
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Ingleborough NNR
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Investigate future suitability of habitat in context of climate change
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 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.