Ship Rock Whitebeam (Sorbus parviloba)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Tree |
| Red List Status: | Critically Endangered (Not Relevant) [CR(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: | Sorbus parviloba |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | T.C.G.Rich |
| 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: | Critically Endangered English endemic with only one confirmed individual with main trunk dead in 2020 but one new basal shoot. Thus recovery project essential to reinforce population, carry out roped access survey and DNA analysis required to determine the presence/absence of other possible individuals on nearby cliffs, and undertake woodland management along cliff edges and plant new trees (seed available in Millennium Seed Bank). |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | With only one confirmed non-flowering individual it is not going to recover by itself without targeted conservation work. |
| 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: | Reintroduction of woodland coppicing management across woodlands in Upper Wye Gorge SSSI and Wye Valley in general - especially along cliff edges - would benefit whitebeams and some hawkweeds |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Wye Valley Sorbus can be grouped together for similar action plans |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Carry out roped access survey and DNA analysis of other potential trees on adjacent cliffs.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Upper Wye Gorge SSSI
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Grown on seeds from Millennium Seed Bank with view to planting them out to reinforce population in five years
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Upper Wye Gorge SSSI
Comments: Dependent on creation of suitable habitat (see Action 3)
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Consider reintroducing rotational management to wooded cliff edges in Upper Wye Gorge SSSI to create mosaic of sites for colonisation.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: Unknown
High priority sites: Upper Wye Gorge SSSI
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.