Cheshire Horsefly (Atylotus plebeius)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true fly (Diptera) > Soldier fly or ally |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Atylotus plebeius |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Fallén, 1817) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Drake, 2017 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Population and distribution extremely limited with only two distinct populations in extremely restricted habitats. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Atylotus plebeius has by all accounts always been scarce; recent increases in records (34 since 2014 on iRecord) are down to recorder effort during commissioned surveys. Most of these records on iRecord are from a single recorder at only three sites in the known areas, (2022 2019 & 2018) See: (Grayson, A., 2019) |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | The chance for dispersal are very limited, corridors between sites are reportedly non-existent. Habitat expansion, restoration of mire (see Delemere Forest Plan) would at least protect existing populations |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Life history factor/s |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | The species needs pristine, genuine quaking bogs with a complete thick covering of Sphagnum and bog plants (e.g. Drosera and Vaccinium) forming a floating mat above permanent water beneath in glacial kettle-holes (Grayson, A., 2019) Acidic basin mire at low altitude on sands and gravels (Drake, C.M. 2017). This is a dangerous habitat to survey of course and one wonders if it occurs at Wybunbury Moss NNR which is exactly that habitat. If it utilises the wetter zones and sits around on the bog surface a lot, it might well be unrecorded. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Additional sites adjacent to known areas returned to mire where applicable to protect and enhance existing limited habitat. Returning failing forestry plantation to mire is suggested in the NERC review (29) 2017
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Shemmy Moss (SJ 5949 6892), Wybunbury Moss (SJ 6965 5021), and quaking bogs on Little Budworth Common, which are known as Central Moss (SJ 5850 6574), East Moss (SJ 5859 6570) and Whitehall Moss (SJ 5878 6580)
Comments: Carry out habitat creation in and around known sites including large scale clearance of failing forestry plantation, returning to mire where possible to allow expansion of the habitat.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Implement scrub clearance and site management to create or enhance viable habitat for the species; removal of birch and pine, maintenance of suitable water levels.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Shemmy Moss (SJ 5949 6892), Wybunbury Moss (SJ 6965 5021), and quaking bogs on Little Budworth Common, which are known as Central Moss (SJ 5850 6574), East Moss (SJ 5859 6570) and Whitehall Moss (SJ 5878 6580)
Comments: To prevent encroachment of birch and pine and any other scrub that may infringe on existing sites, further limiting the area that the species can survive in. This should also consider the effects on water levels where applicable.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Implement annual monitoring by specialists, preferably low impact surveys to assess population size and ongoing threats to the species.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Shemmy Moss (SJ 5949 6892), Wybunbury Moss (SJ 6965 5021), and quaking bogs on Little Budworth Common, which are known as Central Moss (SJ 5850 6574), East Moss (SJ 5859 6570) and Whitehall Moss (SJ 5878 6580)
Comments: Ongoing monitoring and evaluation on an annual basis
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.