Spreading Bellflower (Campanula patula)
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: | Campanula patula |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | L. |
| 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: | Assessed as CR in England (Stroh et al., 2014) due to restricted range, small population (<250 individuals) and ongoing decline. Plant Atlas 2020 also showed a significant decline since the 1950s and the 1980s at the hectad scale. De Vere et al. (2012) showed that there probably around 15 sites in England containing c.275 individuals. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Campanula patula has a dynamic metapopulation structure, establishing sporadically when optimal conditions arise and then disappearing as successional changes make sites less suitable. It is therefore a difficult species to conserve and requires targeted interventions to open up shaded areas, reduce competition and enhance flowering and seedset. |
| 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: | Within core areas management to increase disturbance in woods or along wood edges, using rotational coppicing or tree removal, as well as rotational management of hedgerows and road verges, would benefit this species. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Extinction debt |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Reintroduce rotational coppicing and/or woodland management at important historic sites, to reduce shade, reduce competition and allow regeneration from the seedbank.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Chapel Lawn, Llanfair Waterdine, Frith Wood
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: At core historic sites on field margins/road verges, introduce cutting regimes to reduce competition and create disturbance to increase flowering and seedset and promote regeneration from the seedbank.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Chapel Lawn, Llanfair Waterdine, Frith Wood
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Periodic structured monitoring (<5 years) of historic sites to establish population sizes, regeneration and habitat condition.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: All historic sites with post-2000 records
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.