Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Critically Endangered (Breeding) [CR(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: | Ixobrychus minutus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1766) |
| 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: | Extremely rare breeder/potential coloniser. It needs conservation when/where it attempts to breed due to its rarity but not that it should be a recovery priority. I think as with egret species it will colonise naturally if the appropriate habitat is available and protected for the suite of birds that will use it |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | colonisation has failed following several years of breeding. colonies require protection and appropriate management. |
| 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: | large scale wetland habitat creation provides important feeding areas. Safe Breeding sites would require specific management |
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 - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | Small, crepuscular, rare - difficult to monitor. Natural increase in numbers in possible as the species colonises the UK with changing climate and resulting habitat changes, plus creation of large wetland sites |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Nest protection at breeding sites, with targeted habitat management supported by monitoring to inform future interventions.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Special (in situ) measure
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: somerset levels
Comments: will also benefit from bittern habitat management/ creation actions
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Review management of Little Bittern sites in near continent to inform site management in England
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Somerset levels
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.