Flies
43 species of fly have become extinct in England in the last 200 years, 10 of which are shown below
Species: Belida angelicae
Extinct: 1936
Species: Clitellaria ephippium
Extinct: 1850
© John Reinecke
© Hectonichus
2012
LATEST NEWS
New Forest Cicada
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Marsh Clubmoss in Dorset
Over the last two decades our monitoring has revealed a steady decline in Marsh Clubmoss on the Dorset Heaths, and while some vast sites still remain, the overall range has dramatically contracted.
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Initial work had focussed on monitoring declines and working to improve management on the sites, but this, on its own, has not been enough to reverse the decline.
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In 2023, with initial funding from the Natural England Species Recovery Programme, we have started working on a 'proof of concept' of moving plants into new and extant sites, to see whether translocation is a viable option, and whether particulate techniques are better than others. We all then be mounting these sites over the next ten years to gauge the success or failure of this work.
Field Cow-wheat in Wiltshire
Since 2019 we have been working to prevent the extinction of Field Cow-wheat in Wiltshire, following on from the sale of its only privately owned site to new owners.
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To date we have created 3 new sites for the species, which are all in their early days of establishment, with the eventual aim that they become self-sustaining by the year 2030.
Newsletter
Our latest newsletter can be read here
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If you would like to subscribe to our mailing list please click here
The Species Recovery Trust's Golden Ticket
Congratulations to Oliver Lamford – winner of the SRT Golden Ticket! Ollie will have access to a free place on up to fifteen of our online training courses and two of our field courses. In return for this fantastic package, he will be providing some useful insights via social media on his training experiences.
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The calibre of applicants was so high this year, that we could not resist awarding some runner up prizes as well! A huge well done to our runners up who will all receive a free place on one of our online courses over the next year to help them with their conservation work and projects.
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Thank you to all the applicants that took part, we were truly inspired by the projects you have been working on and the commitment you show!
We will be running the Golden Ticket competition next year so keep your eyes peeled and don’t forget we offer a host of free resources via our Training Resources Page so why not check it out!
New Forest Cicada
The singing insects that provide a shimmering soundtrack to Mediterranean summers are to be reintroduced to the UK. The New Forest Cicada, Cicadetta montana, was once found across the New Forest National Park but there have been no confirmed sightings since the 1990s, despite efforts by the Species Recovery Trust (SRT).
Now, a tiny team of passionate experts including animal keepers at Paultons Park theme park are planning to catch cicadas of the same species in Slovenia, bring them back to England and start a new population in the forest.
The daring, first-of-its-kind project is being led by the SRT. Lead project officer Charlotte Carne said: "This whole project is a really exciting experiment: the adult cicadas are going to be extremely hard to spot, and although they do sing, it's pretty much impossible to hear the song if you're over 30 so we have to use bat detectors. Our officers are going out to Slovenia for just three days and we might not catch any cicadas. Even if we do, we then need to wait six years to find out if the first generation makes it to adulthood. It's so exciting, but also a little tense!"
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The SRT has assessed the habitat management techniques the species needs to survive and has worked with Forestry England to put this management in place so they are now ready to attempt a reintroduction. Given the New Forest is already at the northern edge of the species’ natural range, climate change might also favour the reintroduction. Now Natural England has given the SRT £28,000 as part of its Species Recovery Programme to bring the population back from the dead. The project is also being supported by the Valentine Charitable Trust.
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In June, a team from the SRT will travel to Slovenia and team up with entomologist Matija Gogala and a geopark officer to find cicadas from a population of the same subspecies last found in the New Forest. The team hope to find and bring back five males and five females to the UK via a specialist courier.
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Once the cicadas have cleared customs, Charlotte will take the cicadas to Paultons Park on the edge of the New Forest National Park, who are kindly giving their expertise and a significant amount of time to the cicada project free of charge. Over the past six months, the zoo team at Paultons Park have been creating a cicada habitat that will hopefully enable the species to breed. The cicadas will be carefully released in male-female pairs into these bespoke honeymoon suites, comprising plant pots filled with plant saplings and covered in netting.
If all goes to plan, then in January next year Charlotte will take a selection of plant pots to three top-secret woodland glades in the New Forest and plant them out. Meanwhile, Paultons Park will keep more of the pots with nymphs in the soil as a back-up, in the hopes that they will also hatch one day and could provide a captive population that could feed the one in the forest.
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Bringing live adults back to the UK has never been attempted before, and any cicada nymphs that hatch this year will spend the next six-to-eight years underground feeding on plant roots, so it will be impossible to know whether even the first step of the reintroduction has been successful until 2030 at the earliest.
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Watch this space!
Marsh Clubmoss in Dorset
Over the last two decades our monitoring has revealed a steady decline in Marsh Clubmoss on the Dorset Heaths, and while some vast sites still remain, the overall range has dramatically contracted.
​
Initial work had focussed on monitoring declines and working to improve management on the sites, but this, on its own, has not been enough to reverse the decline.
​
In 2023, with initial funding from the Natural England Species Recovery Programme, we have started working on a 'proof of concept' of moving plants into new and extant sites, to see whether translocation is a viable option, and whether particulate techniques are better than others. We all then be mounting these sites over the next ten years to gauge the success or failure of this work.
Field Cow-wheat in Wiltshire
Since 2019 we have been working to prevent the extinction of Field Cow-wheat in Wiltshire, following on from the sale of its only privately owned site to new owners.
​
To date we have created 3 new sites for the species, which are all in their early days of establishment, with the eventual aim that they become self-sustaining by the year 2030.
Newsletter
Our latest newsletter can be read here
​
If you would like to subscribe to our mailing list please click here
Dwarf Milkwort Reintroductions
With just two native sites left for this dainty but elegant plant, the SRT have been working with partners, Kent Wildlife Trust, Kew Gardens, Natural England as well as dedicated volunteers to secure its future in Kent.
Dwarf milkwort Polygalla amaarella is notoriously difficult to propagate, but our friends at Wakehurst Place have successfully provided nearly 80 plants for reintroduction sites. Back in 2021 we introduced 17 plants onto a chalk bank at Queendown Warren in Kent, where the plant historically grew nearby. We are extremely excited to report that this number has grown, year on year, and we are now up to 86 plants as of 2024.
With the pressures of climate change and erratic weather patterns, this is really encouraging and has provided invaluable information about how to proceed with future introductions