List of extinct animals of the British Isles

This is a list of extinct animals of the British Isles, including locally extinct species. The list includes introduced species only in cases where they were able to form self-sustaining colonies for a time. Only species that have become extinct since the onset of the Late Pleistocene, and by extension the beginning of the Last Interglacial around 130,000 years ago are included. The date beside each species is the last date when a specimen was observed in the wild or, where this is not known, the approximate date of extinction.

Overview

For most of the Neogene and Pleistocene, the British Isles were part of the main continent of Eurasia, linked by a landbridge between southern England and northern France. Throughout the Pleistocene the climate alternated between cold glacial periods, including times when the climate was too cold to support much fauna, and temperate interglacials when a much larger fauna was present. During the Middle Pleistocene around 450,000 years ago, the landbridge began to be eroded by the glacial action, and during the Last Interglacial between 130,000 and 115,000 years ago Britain formed an island. This temperate climate supported an assemblage of species characterised by straight-tusked elephant. Around 115,000 BP the climate began to cool again as the Last Glacial Period began. The temperate species began to go extinct locally. With the cooling climate, the sea level fell and by 60,000 BP a land bridge reformed so new or returning species could repopulate Britain. The colder climate supported a biome favoured by woolly mammoths. By around 20,000 BP the climate was so cold, with much of Britain under ice and the rest a polar desert, that little life could survive, and the glacial fauna also went extinct. The climate began to warm again around 11,700 BP, entering the present climatic period known as the Holocene. Animals repopulated Britain and Ireland. Many of the former species had gone extinct during the interval, but the majority of the surviving European temperate fauna, and some new immigrants, including modern humans, were able to reach Britain until the rising sea level once again isolated the islands. Great Britain was cut off from mainland Europe in around 8,200 BP by the Storegga Slide tsunami flooding Doggerland.
It is important to remember that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence; the fossil record is always incomplete; and many of the early dates are very approximate, since caves in Britain were often excavated before modern archaeological stratifications and dating techniques.

Key

† – A species that is globally extinct

* – A species that is known to have been introduced by humans and was never present by natural immigration.
Some animals have gone extinct several times and then recolonized. The date given is of the most recent extinction. Species that have been introduced or reintroduced by humans are noted.

Mammals

Common name	Species	Order and family	Extinction/extirpation date	Notes and references
Hippopotamus	Hippopotamus amphibius	Artiodactyla	c. 115,000 BP	Present during the Last (Eemian/Ipswichian) Interglacial.
†Straight-tusked elephant	Palaeoloxodon antiquus	Proboscidea: Elephantidae	c. 87,000 BP	Present during the Last Interglacial, and the early part of the Last Glacial Period. Survived elsewhere in Europe until around 40–30,000 years ago.
†Narrow-nosed rhinoceros	Stephanorhinus hemitoechus	Perissodactyla	c. 87,000 BP	Present during the Last Interglacial, and the early part of the Last Glacial Period. Survived elsewhere in Europe until around 40–30,000 years ago.
†Neanderthal	Homo neanderthalensis	Primates: Hominidae	c. 50,000 BP	Have left some genetic traces in modern humans.
†Cave lion	Panthera spelaea	Carnivora	c. 40,000 BP	Survived elsewhere until 14–13,000 years ago.
†Woolly rhinoceros	Coelodonta antiquitatis	Perissodactyla	c. 35,000 BP	Survived elsewhere until at least 14,000 years ago
†Cave hyena	Crocuta crocuta spelaea	Carnivora	c. 32,000 BP	Present in both Britain and Ireland.
†Scimitar-toothed cat	Homotherium latidens	Carnivora	c. 28,000 BP	Only unambiguous Late Pleistocene remains are a single specimen from the southern North Sea dating to c. 28,000 years ago.
†Steppe bison	Bison priscus	Artiodactyla	c. 28,000 BP
Polar bear	Ursus maritimus	Carnivora	c. 18,000 BP
†Woolly mammoth	Mammuthus primigenius	Proboscidea: Elephantidae	c. 14,500–14,000 BP
†Irish elk	Megaloceros giganteus	Artiodactyla	c. 12,000 BP
Reindeer	Rangifer tarandus	Artiodactyla	c. 11,000 BP	Extirpated in Ireland c. 7500 BC.
Saiga antelope	Saiga tatarica	Artiodactyla	c. 12,000 BP
Muskox	Ovibos moschatus	Artiodactyla	prior to 12000 BP
Wolverine	Gulo gulo	Carnivora	c. 11,000 BP
Arctic lemming	Dicrostonyx torquatus	Rodentia	c. 10,000 BP
Steppe lemming	Lagurus lagurus	Rodentia	c. 10,000 BP
Narrow-headed vole	Microtus gregalis	Rodentia	c. 10,000 BP
Steppe pika	Ochotona pusilla	Lagomorpha	c. 10,000 BP
Arctic fox	Vulpes lagopus	Carnivora	c. 10,000 BP
Wild horse	Equus ferus ferus	Perissodactyla	c. 10,000 BP	Re-established proxy in the form of free-roaming domestic horses
Moose/elk	Alces alces	Artiodactyla	c. 5600 BP
Root vole	Microtus oeconomus	Rodentia	c. 1,500 BC
†Aurochs	Bos primigenius primigenius	Artiodactyla	c. 1000 BC	Select breeds of free-roaming domestic cattle are used as an ecological proxy as part of some conservation grazing initiatives.
Walrus	Odobenus rosmarus	Carnivora	c. 1000 BC	Extirpated as a breeder; occasional vagrant
Brown bear	Ursus arctos	Carnivora	c. 500	c. 1000 – 500 BC in Ireland; see Bears in Ireland
Eurasian lynx	Lynx lynx	Carnivora	c. 700 or c. 1760	Subfossil evidence suggests an early medieval extinction, but a written record indicates persistence in Scotland into the late 18th century.
Wild boar	Sus scrofa	Artiodactyla	c. 1400	Reintroduced to Britain, extirpated from Ireland.
Eurasian beaver	Castor fiber	Rodentia: Castoridae	1526	Reintroduced to Britain; never known to have lived in Ireland
Grey wolf	Canis lupus	Carnivora	1786	1166 in Wales, 139 in England, 1680 in Scotland/Britain, 1786 in Ireland; see Wolves in Great Britain and Wolves in Ireland
*Muskrat	Ondatra zibethicus	Rodentia	1937	Introduced, non-native; eradicated in 1937.
*Siberian roe deer	Capreolus pygargus	Artiodactyla	1945	Non-native, introduced in England from escapees in early 20th century; exterminated by 1945
*Coypu	Myocastor coypus	Rodentia	1978	Modern, introduced non-native; eradicated in Britain in 1978, introduced to Ireland in 2010.
Greater mouse-eared bat	Myotis myotis	Chiroptera	1990	A solitary male was recorded at a single hibernation site in Sussex from 2002–2022. In 2023 two individuals were recorded in Sussex. Species is effectively extirpated, with no maternity sites found in the UK.

Birds

Common crane – late medieval period
Dalmatian pelican – c. 5000 BP
Gadfly petrel – Iron Age
Eurasian spoonbill – 17th century
†Great auk – 1844
Great bustard – 19th century
Kentish plover – 20th century
Little egret – late medieval period
Pied avocet – 19th century
Red-backed shrike – 1989
Western capercaillie – 1780s
Hazel grouse – Last Glacial Period and only found in South West England
White stork – 1416
Wryneck
White-tailed eagle – 1916
Lanner falcon – 1236–1300
Western marsh harrier – late 19th century
Eurasian goshawk – late 19th century
Red kite – 1870s, 1886 ; reintroduced
Osprey – 1916
Eurasian eagle owl – c. 10000 BP

Fish

Burbot – A fisherman caught the last recorded burbot in September 1969 from the Old West River (Great Ouse), near Aldreth, Cambridgeshire. The species was then presumed extirpated.
†Houting – In the UK, the houting was declared extinct in 1977 by D. A. Ratcliffe. It was last recorded in the UK from the River Colne, West Yorkshire, in 1925. In 2023 DNA testing found that the houting is genetically indistinguishable from Coregonus lavaretus and is therefore not extinct.
†Orkney charr – last reported in 1908 and declared extinct in the IUCN Red List in 2024

Amphibians

Agile frog – c. 1000, possibly 1500 present on Jersey
European tree frog – Late Pleistocene
Moor frog – c. 1000, possibly 1500
Pool frog – 1999

Reptiles

Aesculapian snake – c. Atlantic period >3000 BC
European pond turtle – ≤ 3000 BC, currently being reintroduced by Celtic Rewilding
Western green lizard – c. unknown ; present on Jersey and Guernsey

Insects

Butterflies and moths

General reference: Waring et al., 2009.

Aporia crataegi, black-veined white – 1925
Borkhausenia minutella – 1950
Lithophane furcifera, conformist –
Euclemensia woodiella – 1829
Flame brocade – 1919
Frosted yellow – 1914
Gypsy moth – 1907; reappeared 1995
Isle of Wight wave – 1931
Large chequered skipper – c. 1989
Large copper – 1865
Large tortoiseshell – 1960s
Many-lined – 1875
Map – c. 1914
Mazarine blue – 1906
Orache moth – 1915
Reed tussock – 1875
Scarce black arches – 1898
Speckled beauty – 1898
Union rustic – 1919
Viper's bugloss – 1969

Dragonflies and damselflies

Norfolk damselfly – 1957
Orange-spotted emerald – 1957

Caddisflies

Hydropsyche bulgaromanorum – 1926
Hydropsyche exocellata – 1901

Cicada

Cicadetta montana – not seen in Britain since 2000.

Arachnids

Crustaceans

Artemia salina – after 1758

Molluscs

Land snails

Fruticicola fruticum
''Cernuella neglecta''

Reintroduction and re-establishment

The white-tailed eagle has been successfully re-established on the western coast of Scotland. Having clung on in parts of Wales, red kites have been successfully re-established in parts of England and Scotland. Ongoing projects involve both these species: the corn crake into parts of England and Scotland, and the great bustard on Salisbury Plain.
European beavers have been reintroduced to parts of Scotland, and there are plans to bring them back to other parts of Britain. A five-year trial reintroduction at Knapdale in Argyll started in 2009 and concluded in 2014. A few hundred beavers live wild in the Tay river basin, as a result of escapes from a wildlife park. A similar reintroduction trial is being undertaken on the river otter in Devon, England. Also, around the country, beavers have been introduced into fenced reserves for many reasons including flood prevention. In 2016, beavers were recognised as a British native species, and will be protected under law.
In 2008, Eurasian elk were released into a fenced reserve on the Alladale Estate in the Highlands of Scotland. Reindeer were re-established in 1952; approximately 150–170 reindeer live around the Cairngorms region in Scotland.
Set up by the Wildwood Trust, Konik horses have been established across many reserves as a proxy for the extinct tarpan.
In 1998, MAFF, now known as DEFRA released a report concerning the presence of two populations of wild boar living freely in the UK. These boar are thought to have escaped from wildlife parks, zoos and from farms where they are farmed for their meat, and gone on to establish breeding populations.
Around 20 white storks pass through the UK each year. A colony at the Knepp Wildland in West Sussex, aided by zoologist Roisin Campbell-Palmer, hopes to reinforce these off-path migrants by introducing adults into a fenced reserve, where the juveniles born will be able to establish other colonies further afield.
The northern clade of the pool frog was reintroduced from Swedish stock in 2005, to a single site in Norfolk, England, following detailed research to prove that it had been native before its extinction around 1993.
Smaller species, mainly reptiles, such as the green lizard and Aesculapian snake, have formed colonies probably due to a result of release from captivity. There have also been calls for the return of the European tree frog to the wild.
Established in 2020, Celtic Reptile & Amphibian, aims to reintroduce the lost species of reptile and amphibian that once inhabited Britain, back to rewilding projects. These include the moor frog, European tree frog, agile frog and European pond turtle. They have already had significant success breeding the moor frog in captivity. The organisation also wants to see European pond turtles re-established within wetland restoration projects.
The large blue butterfly has been successfully re-established from Swedish stock at several sites, but very few of these are open-access. There are also several successful cases of the establishment of new populations of heath fritillary.
There have been calls for the reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx, brown bear and grey wolf to the UK, because no large predators are living in viable populations in Great Britain. It is theorized that a large predators presence could create a trophic cascade, thus improving the ecosystem.
Three female bison were introduced to the West Blean and Thornden Woods in Kent, England on 18 July 2022. A calf, also female, was unexpectedly born in September 2022 and in December 2022 a bull was introduced. These five bison are first "complete" wild herd in the UK in thousands of years. As of October 2024, the herd consists of three females, a bull and four calves.