Grey Long-eared Bat (Plecotus austriacus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > terrestrial mammal > Bat |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(nr)] |
| 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: | Plecotus austriacus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Fischer, 1829) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Mathews & Harrower, 2020 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species is listed as endangered on the GB and England red listing. It has a limited range and the population is around a 1,000 animals. It has been the focus of conservation projects but needs wider measures to assist in the struggle to recover against various forms of environmental pressures. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species typically forages over meadows, unimproved grasslands and near woodland edges. Targeted habitat management in the core sustenance zones around the small number of remaining roosts, and provision of habitats to provide connectivity between known roosts, is vital for this species. |
| 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: | To justify answering no. Whilst any restoration of unimproved grassland types will be of benefit for a suite of species, for the grey long-eared bats, which only fly a limited distance from their few roosts, the action needs to be far more targeted. It would be so easy for positive actions for this habitat to miss giving the vital recovery support needed for this species if it is not taken into account as a specific geographical need. There is also the need to consider connectivity in the wider landscape, including the impact of artificial lighting, and the availability of suitable roosts. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Ongoing legal protection of roosts is vital to prevent extinction. Research has shown that this species is expected to move northwards in England as a result of climate change. In fact it is important that it does as the southern area of its range in Europe is being lost due to the impacts of climate change. In GB the limiting factor on numbers becoming more robust and increasing their range in a northerly direction is the availability of suitable foraging habitats (and insect abundance therein). Unimproved grassland habitats (species-rich meadows and wet grassland) have suffered massive declines in recent decades. We know what the species needs and we know the targeted locations and stepping stones the species requires. Back from the Brink started to address this need. This foundation needs to be built on to secure this species' survival. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Targeted habitat management in the core sustenance zone around the small number of remaining roosts and connecting up known roosts is vital for this species. Much effort has been put into researching this species' needs and strong steps were taken to act on this via habitat management in a part of this species' range. This needs to be followed up on and spread across the rest of its very limited range.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: National here means the range of the species which is restricted to the southern coastal counties.
Comments: There is a small amount of trialling recovery solutions as with so few animals to study and being long-lived creatures, it takes time to be completely certain we have it all right. But the evidence base is good so this action can be seen as rolling out, at an effective scale, solutions to this species recovery that link to foraging habitat deficiencies. It should be noted that this is both habitat creation and management.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Habitat stepping stones for species recovery and expansion. To allow the recovery but also to facilitate the expansion of its range as anticipated due to climate change, requires not only suitable foraging habitats (see previous action) but also permeability of the landscapes at a regional level. This requires the absence of fragmentary or hostile features such as artificial lighting, loss of hedgerows and other natural linear features, intensively managed arable or improved farmland lacking margins, built areas, etc. In effect what is needed are stepping stones of the habitats that support this most endangered species and avoidance of barriers that would enable the viability of these.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Climate change adaptation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: In this context national means within the species known range and including the predicted areas for range expansion currently and over the coming decades.
Comments: To address this action requires the current range and predicted range to be mapped and consideration given to least cost pathways through that landscape. The solutions are not purely agricultural or woodland management decisions but include the wise implementation of existing land use planning processes regarding development and transport systems. To note that this is listed as climate change but could arguably also be listed under pressure mitigation - although that would not cover the need to look beyond the current known range.
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.