Together we can bring our threatened species back from the brink.

Quick Facts:

Name of Project: Back from the Brink ~ Ancients of the Future, Ladybird Spider, Narrow-headed Ant & Shrill Carder Bee were key Buglife led projects, alongside Limestone’s Living Legacies & Shifting Sands led by partner organisations.
Duration of Project: 2017 – 2021
Location of Project: The Back from the Brink Partnership delivered conservation work for threatened species across the length and breadth of England; from the tip of Cornwall to the Scottish border in Northumberland.
Species benefiting from Project: Back from the Brink aimed to save 20 species from extinction and benefit over 200 more through 19 projects that spanned England; including the Wormwood Moonshiner Beetle (Amara fusca), Rugged Oil Beetle (Meloe rugosus), Ladybird Spider (Eresus sandaliatus), Shrill Carder Bee (Bombus sylvarum) and Narrow-headed Ant (Formica exsecta).
Project funded by: National Lottery Heritage Fund, People’s Postcode Lottery, Garfield Weston Foundation, Natural England, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Patsy Wood Trust, EU Life, Forestry Cmmission & Veolia. Developed by Natural England & Rethink Nature

Back from the Brink was a partnership working to prevent the extinction of threatened species in England.

By pooling expertise and developing new ways of working we aimed to put over 100 priority species on the road to recovery by 2020. Inspiring people across the country to discover and care for threatened animals, plants and fungi.

Our legacy will be to share experience and success so that populations of threatened species are restored to more landscapes.

We worked landowners, land managers, volunteers and communities as a coalition for action to complete the £7.7 million programme of work needed to give these species a better future.

A series of 7 integrated and 12 single species projects delivered our aims in locations spread across England. Along with our national engagement these projects inspired the public to champion species recovery.

The lead partners were Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. Bat Conservation, Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation, Butterfly Conservation, Natural England, Plantlife, RSPB. This was a Rethink Nature partnership project.

This project is funded by the Lottery Heritage Fund, The People’s Postcode lottery and several other funders

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