Blog: Natural England’s new tool to save a thousand species - a gift for zoo and aquarium conservation

In 2023, Tim Wilkins (Natural England’s principal specialist in species recovery) set out on a mammoth two-year project, aiming to produce individual species action plans for England’s most threatened species:

Funded through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme, Tim and his team worked with over 80 specialists from across the conservation sector. A long list of over 2,000 species of conservation concern was initially compiled, largely drawn from the British Red Lists and ‘Species of Principal Importance in England’ (Section 41 of the NERC Act, 2006). These species were then prioritised based on their trends in England today, and on whether broader nature recovery measures would be sufficient, or whether something additional and more bespoke was necessary. Actions were then drafted for those species identified as priorities for tailored measures. As a result 1,384 species were action planned, generating more than 3,600 actions. 
 
These were published last August as the Threatened Species Recovery Actions (TSRA) spreadsheet and accompanying report/user-guide. 

What’s it to zoos? 

The TSRA spreadsheet itself might initially look a little overwhelming but is a hugely valuable, self-contained tool which can help zoos in England in identifying and prioritising which native species to support. By filtering the species by columns such as Taxonomic Group, GB Red List Status and Action Type, zoos and aquariums can quickly create priority species lists which can help inform both institutional species plans and conservation strategies.  

So for example, by opening the ‘4. Key Action Summary’ tab and filtering column A to ‘Invertebrates’, Column F to ‘CR’ (Critically Endangered) and ‘EN’ (Endangered) and Column J to ‘(Re-)introduction’ and ‘Ex situ conservation’… you’ve created a priority list of all CR and EN Invertebrates and their actions in England around (Re-)introduction and Ex situ conservation,  

This simple action can be repeated across different groups, action types etc. to explore priorities such as needs for ‘Scientific research’, ‘Education and Awareness raising’, ‘habitat management’, ‘targeted survey’ etc or whichever action could be feasible at your zoo or aquarium. 

This transformative new approach offers a powerful tool as we work to recover an increasing number of threatened species with limited time and resources. Highlighting groups of species with common recovery needs and providing a smorgasbord of options for innovative project development, it is hoped the TRSA will become widely used by conservation practitioners at all levels and especially influence action on the ground locally, boosting collective impact and ultimately driving down extinction risk levels. 

- Tim Wilkins, Principal Specialist in Species Recovery, Natural England

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