Tansy Beetles are endangered in the UK and have been categorised as “Nationally Scarce” and a “UK BAP priority species”. But what does that mean?

Lots of wildlife is endangered and therefore protected. There are international laws, like the Convention of the Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which dictate whether you can buy or sell wildlife. There are also organisations like the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that investigate and designate how rare a species is, they have a widely-used scale with labels like “Critically Endangered” and “Vulnerable”:

Tansy Beetles are classed by the IUCN as “endangered”.

In the UK, species can also be thought of as ‘nationally scarce’ or ‘nationally rare’. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are at risk of extinction, or that they need to be conserved. These are labels that show that a species isn’t very well distributed.

In the 1940s the Ordnance Survey mapped out the UK into about 3,000 10km x 10km squares. ‘Nationally scarce’ means that a species is found in more than 16 but less than 100 of these squares in the UK. ‘Nationally rare’ means that a species is only found in fewer than 16 squares. Tansy Beetles are “Nationally Scarce”.

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) was developed in the early 1990s by the UK government. It identifies species and habitats in the UK that specifically need our help to survive. Tansy beetles have been identified as a UK BAP priority species.

Not every species in the UK is specifically protected by law. However, the tansy beetle is listed in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006. This means that public authorities such as ministers, local authorities and statutory undertakers must “have regard to the conservation of [Tansy Beetles] when carrying out their normal functions.” It’s a good way to recognise how important, and how vulnerable, tansy beetles are.