White-clawed crayfish has a given world status as rare
Male hen harrier_Andy Hay (RSPB Images)

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Crustaceans

White-clawed crayfish (Environment Agency) 

This section just covers the white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes)

Austropotamobius pallipes is Britain’s only native freshwater crayfish.  It is found in clean, calcareous streams, rivers and lakes in England.

White-clawed crayfish was once widespread across Europe, prior to the introduction of North American signal crayfish, which is the vector for “crayfish plague”; a highly contagious fungal disease which has depleted or eliminated populations in affected catchments. 

The principle cause of decline would seem to be “crayfish plague”, though competition with non-native species is a significant problem.  Other causes of decline are pollution, (particularly from pesticides, slurry and sewage), river engineering works and drought.

For further information please see the document for download on this page.