Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Regionally Extinct (GB scale) (Breeding) [RE(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: | Anarhynchus alexandrinus |
| 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: | Yes |
| Justification: | Former breeder last in 1979, rare vagrant. If returned to breed, reactive nest protection. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Recolonisation would only occur if supported by nest protection. Need to explore feasibility of reintroduction. |
| 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: | N |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Pressures acting outside England |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | some declines in range near continent. But also some populations recovering under management. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Explore feasibility of reintroduction.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Humber to Dorset
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Nest protection of any potential breeding pairs.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Special (in situ) measure
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Humber to Dorset
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.