Spotted Cat's-ear (Hypochaeris maculata)
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: | Hypochaeris maculata |
| 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: | VU in England, historically recorded from about 30 sites but extant in 6 sites in England, 1 in Wales and 1 in the Channel Islands. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | An extreme calcicole restricted to calcareous soils overlying chalk, limestone and serpentine rocks. All English sites are on SSSIs; three are stable due to active management (Kynance, Porthtowan, Knocking Hoe) and two are declining due to lack of management (Devil's Dyke, Risby Black Ditches). |
| 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 is highly restricted to high quality droughted swards and outcrops unlikely to be restorable through landscape scale programmes |
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: | Population probably stable but declining at 2 sites due to lack of management and likely to go extinct without the introduction of grazing |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Restoration of grazing on earthwork sites in eastern England including those where possibly lost (e.g. Risby Black Ditches)
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Devil's Dyke, Risby Black Ditches
Comments: Both sites would need stockproof fencing as currently earthworks amongst arable land
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Ex situ cultivation of plants from a range of suitable donor populations with potential to reintroduce to former sites (e.g. Fleam Dyke, Hildersham Furze) and/or bolster sites in Action 1
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Ex situ conservation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Devil's Dyke, Risby Black Ditches, Hildersham Furze, Fleam Dyke
Comments: In the 1980s plants we introduced to the Devil's Dyke by Terry Wells and some may still survive
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.