Great Sundew (Drosera anglica)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| 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: | Drosera anglica |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Huds. |
| 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 EN in England due to a dramatic decrease in its Extent of Occurrence (EOO) (Stroh et al., 2014) due to a combination of habitat loss, afforestation, drainage and air pollution. In England it is now a very rare plant away from its strongholds in Dorset/New Forest and is regionally extinct in many lowland counties (e.g. Cambridgeshire, Surrey, North Lincolnshire, Yorkshire). Its restoration in these counties will rely on large-scale wetland recreation projects to restore peat bogs and valley and raised mires. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species will need specific measures combined with large-scale habitat restoration/creation. |
| 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 - Combination or other (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | It will rely on large scale wetland restoration/creation in some areas. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Ex situ propagation and reintroduction to historic sites under active restoration/conservation management. Such work is already being carried out on some restored mosses in NW England.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, East Anglia, North Lincolnshire, Northwest England, South Pennines, Surrey
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Undertake a molecular survey to identify infraspecific variation across its England/GB range
Action targets: 1. Taxonomy established
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 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.