Alpine Catchfly (Silene suecica)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(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: | Silene suecica |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Lodd.) Greuter & Burdet |
| 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 due to its restriction to a single site with less than 50 plants (Stroh et al., 2014). The entire population, estimated at around 75 plants in 2024, is confined to a series of crumbling cliffs in a single gully at c.700 m altitude on Hobcarton Crag in the English Lake District where the population appears to have remained stable for nearly two centuries. There is little scope for conservation action at this site except for ex situ conservation and possibly augmentation of the population. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Given its restriction to a single crag the species is at high risk of regional extinction in England. |
| 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 has a highly restricted distribution and is unlikely to colonise new sites. |
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: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Seed banking, ex situ propagation from seed and reintroduction to augment the Hobcarton Crag population offers the only practical way to protect this species from regional extinction in England.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Ex situ conservation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Hobcarton Crag, Cumbria
Comments: Kew MSB has a recent collection of seed from Hobcarton Crag.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: The entire population is restricted to inaccessible rock outcrops and ledges in open pasture where sheep grazing levels are high. Reducing grazing pressure on the surrounding slopes would improve chances of regeneration and potentially allow the population to spread. This approach has been trialled with success by the RSPB on their Haweswater reserve.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Hobcarton Crag, Cumbria
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.