Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Both Breeding & Non-breeding) [EN(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: | Podiceps nigricollis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Brehm, CL, 1831 |
| 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: | Rare breeder. Limited to a small number of sites. Eng WeBS trends (25 yr -81%, 10 yr -74%) |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Rare breeder, limited to a small number of sites. Uncommon winter visitor. |
| 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: | yes if early successional wetland habitats included in large wetland mosaics |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Manage wetland habitat mosaics optimally for this species at key breeding sites.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: St Aidan's. Woolston Eyes
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Create more suitable early successional wetland habitat e.g. at Woolston Eyes
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Review breeding habitat requirements to advise on restoration management of former sites and potential expansion sites
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 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.