The fourth Quinquennial Review of Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) has now been carried out by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. There are no changes recommended for Schedule 8 (plants), but recommended changes for Schedule 5 (animals) are:

Mammal:

Arvicola terrestris (water vole) - increased from partial protection

Marine fish:

Hippocampus hippocampus (short snouted seahorse)

Hippocampus guttulatus (spiny seahorse)

Squatina squatina (angel shark)

Dipturus batis (common skate)

Dipturus nidarosiensis (black skate)

Dipturus oxyrhinchus (long-nose skate)

Rostroraja alba (white skate)

Mollusc:

Helix pomatia (Roman snail)

Moths:

Zygaena lonicerae ssp jocelynae (narrow-bordered five-spot burnet)

Zygaena loti subspecies scotica (slender Scotch burnet)

NB. When the above becomes law, our Checklist of Protected British Species will be updated accordingly.