Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Breeding) [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: | Sterna paradisaea |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Pontoppidan, 1763 |
| 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: | Seabirds Count Eng counts up since S2k (+69) but overall UK -37% |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Small number of colonies , declining in UK. |
| 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: | Coastal and Marine species. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Manage current breeding sites in optimal habitat condition, through management that directly impacts this species, including excessive predation (including invasive non-native species) and disturbance. Monitor effectiveness of interventions and inform management.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Northumberland
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Provide nest protection for key sites with beach nesting birds from human related disturbance and predators.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Pressure Mitigation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Northumberland
Comments: Action type to be checked
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Facilitate the delivery of Fisheries Management Plans that implement the ecosystem approach to fisheries through generation of supporting evidence according to the relevant 'feeding' actions in English Seabird Conservation and Recovery Pathway (ESCaRP).
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Pressure mitigation
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.