UK BAP priority species accounts

JNCC have collated information from a variety of sources for all of the 1150 species included on the UK BAP priority species list, initiated in 1995, and updated in 2007. For each species, a 'species account' has been created from these collations. All of the information available in these 'species accounts' has already been published on the JNCC website, the NBN Gateway, or the BARS 1 website. The aim of the collation is to bring together all of the data available about each species into a single report and therefore to make the evidence more accessible.

UK BAP priority species were those that were identified as being the most threatened and requiring conservation action under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP). As a result of devolution, and new country-level and international drivers and requirements, much of the work previously carried out by the UK BAP is now focussed at a country-level rather than a UK-level, and the UK BAP has recently (July 2012) been succeeded by the 'UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework'. The UK list of priority species, however, remains an important reference source and has been used to help draw up statutory lists of priorities in the four countries of the UK.

These pages are a prototype to demonstrate that it is possible to combine and re-package existing information from a variety of sources. A second version of this prototype may not be generated, but feedback on how to organise and present this type of information in the future is welcome. If there are errors in the pages, please note that it is likely that these are likely to have been present in the information already published.

Sources of information

Four sources of information were used to generate the species accounts:

1. Information derived from the Species and Habitats Review Report (2007): An explanation of the process used for the review is included in the UK BAP Species and Habitats Review Report (2007). This review was organised in two stages. Stage 1 looked at the scientific evidence for selecting the UK list of Priority Species and Habitats, while Stage 2 considered the conservation action needed for the priority species and provided signposts to the means of implementing action. Actions were assigned to every priority species by expert groups convened at Stage 2 of the review process. These were subsequently categorised into 'signpost categories'. Where a species action is clearly linked to a BAP priority habitat, the name of the relevant habitat or habitats was identified by the Stage 2 expert group.

2. The 2nd UK Report on the implementation of the Habitats Directive (2008): This is only applicable to species listed under the Annexes 2, 4 and 5 of the Habitats Directive. The information presented in the species pages was collated by the UK Government in fulfilment of the requirement under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive.

3. JNCC’s collation of information on species designations: The designations shown are as at January 2010.

4. The 2008 UK BAP reporting round: The 2008 UK BAP reporting round examined the 475 species which were placed on the original UK BAP list in 1997. For each species, information was provided on status, trends, successes, threats, constraints and state of knowledge.

Information within the species accounts

For each species the species accounts provide information on:

the UK countries in which the species occurs;
whether or not the species has a restricted distribution (defined as occurring in 10 or fewer locations);
for species of restricted distribution, the number of locations where the species has been recorded (defined as fewer than 10 locations);
why the species qualifies as a UK BAP priority species;
the evidence underpinning the qualification of each species;
the actions required for each species as identified by species expert groups in the Species and Habitats Review (2007) (PDF, 1.3Mb);
the priority habitats which are directly linked to the actions;
the status of a sub-set of 60 species which are listed under the Habitats Directive as being especially threatened at a European scale.
the conservation status of each species (e.g. listings under international/national legislation and IUCN red lists);
the status, trends, successes, threats, constraints and state of knowledge of the species included in the UK BAP 2008 reporting round.

The list of priority species, with links to the species accounts, is available in the priority species accounts spreadsheet. Alternatively, the list can be viewed by major taxonomic group (select the species name to access the species account):

Birds
Fish
Fungi
Herptiles
Marine
Non-vascular plants
Terrestrial invertebrates
Terrestrial mammals
Vascular plants

Please note that these pages do not provide definitive information on the distribution of each species. For information about species distribution, visit the National Biodiversity Network Gateway.

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