Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Least Concern (Non-breeding) / Vulnerable (Breeding) [LC(nbr) VU(br)] |
| 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: | Ardea cinerea |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Linnaeus, 1758 |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Stanbury et al., 2021 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | Long term significant decline Eng BBS (25 yr -19%, 10 yr non signif -6%). Eng WeBS trends positive (25 yr +10%, 10 yr +3%). Slight decline reported by https://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/heronries-census-summary-2018.pdf Population stable, so no justification for action at this time. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | No, recovery of this species will be benefitted by overall landscape recovery. Upward trend of recovery seen in recent years, as mentioned in Q1 justification. |
| 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: | Wetland creation will benefit Grey Heron |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
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.