Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Both Breeding & Non-breeding) [VU(br/nbr)] |
| 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: | Platalea leucorodia |
| 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: | Recent colonist. Eng WeBS trends (25 yr +5200%, 10 yr +212%). Nest protection needed. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Colonising, colonies require protection as this species is still a rare breeder |
| 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): | 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | One larger colony in Norfolk suffering from marsh harrier and red kite predation/disturbance at the nest - needs thought on how to combat this |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Manage known breeding sites to ensure adequate productivity; this includes management to protect the species from predation and disturbance. Use the outcome of monitoring to inform future management.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Greater Thames, Somerset Levels, Fens, Eastern England coast, NW England coast
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Monitoring of breeding population, productivity, emphasis on ringing to discover movements (via colour marking) to inform future conservation.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Greater Thames, Somerset Levels, Fens, Eastern England coast, NW England coast
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Consider and as appropriate implement the recommendations of the 2016 SPA Review for this species. Up to date evidence is required.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Site protection
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites:
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.