1. Changes to the ABCD Listing Made in 1982:

'A' list additions, B list species now recorded in all 10 10km squares.

• Lesser Satin Lutestring - Dibbinsdale (SJ38) - 26.vi.1982 - W.H. at LCES field meeting.
• Shuttle-shaped Dart - Ollerton (SJ77) - 28.viii.1982 - JEC & CIR.

The 'A' list now has 116 species.

'B' list additions:

• Drab Copper Underwing (A.berbera) - Ollerton (SJ77) - 28.viii.1982 - JHC & CIR.

The 'B' list now has 115 species.

'C' list additions:

• Lunar Marbled Brown - Alderley Edge (SJ87) - 16.v.1982 - CIR.
• Southern Wainscot - Risley Moss (SJ69) - 24.vi.1982 - CIR at LCES field meeting.

The 'C' list now has 100 species.

'D' list additions:

• Feathered Ranunculus - Hilbre Island (SJ18) - IDW.
• Dusky Sallow - Risley Moss (SJ69) - 24.vii.1982 - WH & MH at LCES field meeting.
• Small Purple Barred - Broomhall (SJ64) - 1982 - PG.
• Spruce Carpet - Delamere (SJ57) - WH, also Broomhall - PG.
• Satyr Pug - Alderley Edge - 1981 - CIR.
• Marsh Pug - Moreton, Wirral (SJ29) - 30.v.1981 -- MH at LCES meeting.
• Haworth's Pug - Hazel Grove (SJ98) - 10.vii.1982 - SH.

The 'D' list now has 126 species.

The present total of macro-moth species for the County of Cheshire = 457.

2. Additions made to species recorded in the County since 1961 in the years 1979-1982:

This list collates all the additions made to the combined ABCD lists since they were first produced. Many of these are new records but some are the result of including 1961-1978 records for the 20 squares not used in the derivation of the lists. Four species shown in the original 'D' list were subsequently deleted after checking the origins of the records so that the present total of 457 species is made up of the original total of 419 minus 4 and plus 42 as listed below:

• Striped Hawk-moth
• Pale Oak Eggar
• Least Black Arches
• Scarce Silver-lines
• Oak Nycteoline
• Clouded Buff
• Round-winged Muslin
• Large Footman
• Sycamore
• Grey Rustic
• Great Brocade
• Green Arches
• Dusky Sallow
• Feathered Ranunculus
• Sprawler
• Reddish Light Arches
• Double Kidney
• White Spotted Pinion
• Northern Drab
• Bordered Straw
• Small Purple Barred
• Red Underwing
• Small Scallop
• Maidens Blush
• Spruce Carpet
• Oblique Carpet
• Welsh Wave
• Small Autumnal Carpet
• Argent and Sable
• Ochreous Pug
• Larch Pug
• Satyr Pug
• Haworth's Pug
• Valerian Pug
• Marsh Pug
• Slender Pug
• Annulet
• Grass Wave
• Satin Beauty
• Forester
• Lunar Hornet Clearwing
• Yellow-legged Clearwing

3. Sampling:

The original ABCD lists were compiled at the end of 1978 on the basis of the records for the only ten squares in the County for which we had 200 or more species recorded. The total number of species now recorded for these ten squares is:

• SJ28 - 331
• SJ38 - 221
• SJ47 - 238
• SJ65 - 302
• SJ75 - 219
• SJ77 - 218
• SJ78 - 237
• SJ87 - 327
• SJ88 - 321
• SJ97 - 280

As mentioned in the main report recent recording has been much more prolific in some of the other squares and the total number of species recorded in the best of them is as follows:

• SJ29 - 199
• SJ44 - 215
• SJ46 - 201
• SJ57 - 213
• SJ64 - 204
• SJ66 - 245
• SJ76 - 220
• SJ98 - 227.

Clearly there is an overlap between these eight squares and the original ten but at this stage the effort involved in recasting the lists to (for example) replace SJ75 and SJ77 by SJ66 and SJ98 would not be worthwhile. There will, however, have to be a new basis for assessment of status now that our records are so much more extensive than they were four or five years ago.

After the first eighteen squares (at 200 or so species) there is a big gap as no other square has as many as 150 species. This is shown by the following list which might be regarded as the "Third Division" !

• SJ27 - 67
• SJ37 - 141
• SJ45 - 108
• SJ55 - 76
• SJ56 - 90
• SJ67 - 130
• SJ69 - 123
• SJ99 - 98

White the positive records in these eight squares are significant, the absence of any species from any of them cannot be so long as the total is only a third of the County total.

Finally there are five squares which are virtually unworked:

• SJ36 - 15
• SJ54 - 2
• SJ58 - 33
• SJ68 - 1
• SJ86 - 19.

While little effort would be required to raise these figures there is clearly a long way to go before we have a reasonably representative list for every square as we have for the butterflies for instance, so that for several years yet the assessment of the status of the moths in Cheshire will have to be based on some form of sampling.

C.I. Rutherford - (01625-583683)                                                                                                                                                                 January 1983
Longridge
Macclesfield Road
Alderley Edge
Cheshire, SK9 7BL