CTG for 22-Nov to 5-Dec 2012

Herewith this fortnight's Cards to Green map.
As per last fortnight we have a slight correction, John Cox pointed out that I had missed one of the sliver pentads along the iSimangaliso coast. This pentad only has two cards, so I have added another 2 to the number of cards needed for degree square 2832 - which now needs 8 cards and not the 6 as published last fortnight.
We look forward to the next report, where the five RED pentads centred around Magudu should be yellow, and hopefully some yellows turned green, after this weekend's Atlas Bash to clear these empties.

 The biggest movement was in 2831, which saw 12 cards submitted which contibute to the CTG mini-project, thanks to John and Kim Cox for their diligent and well targeted coverage of the area surrounding Richard's Bay.
Our worst off degree square, 2830, got 3 cards thanks to Alan Manson's efforts on BBD.
Tim Wood effort's around BBD saw him active in the Matatiele area, where 3028 got two cards.

As mentioned above, John and Kim again led the charge with 12 cards, Alan with 3 and Tim with 2.

It is interesting to note that some of the QDGC that received relatively poorer coverage in SABAP1 are doing better this time around, some examples:

2730CC OSIZWENI had 7 cards and 173 spp in SABAP1 against the SABAP2 75 and 227;

2730DD VRYHEID with 20/169 against 109/323 - actually just about all of the QDGC's around Vryheid are like this, but Vryheid's stats are really good;

2830BA NQUTU 9/112 and 14/148;

2830DA COLLESSIE with 4/103 and 12/169;

2930BD NOODSBERG with 11/128 and 22/185.

Looking at KZN's entire submissions, we have dipped a little this fortnight falling from a high of 7.4 cards/day last period to 5.3 this fortnight. Our cards have however had an increase in records/card, now up to 64.1/card from 60.0.

To put the daily card submission rate in perspective against the other 11 regions, the W Cape leads with 7.4 cards/days, followed by Gauteng with 6.4, then the E Cape on 6.0.

Looking at a twelve week average, the cards/day for the regions are as follows:

1.  W Cape 9.5

2.  Gauteng 6.2

3.  KZN 5.6

4.  Mpumalanga 5.2

5.  E Cape 5.1

6.  N Cape 3.8

7.  Limpopo 3.7

8.  North West 3.6

9.  Free State 3.1

10. Namibia 1.6

11. Swaziland 0.2

12. Lesotho 0.1

CTG for 8-21 Nov 2012

This fortnight saw some good movement with 16 cards submitted that contributed to the "Cards-to-Green" mini-project. There was also an adjustment to a card in Degree Square 2732, where a pentad code was corrected, i.e. data for a pentad was moved from a "CTG-deficient" pentad to a "CTG-excess" one.

This adjustment shows the total cards on this table to have moved by only 15, rather than the sixteen.
Most submissions were in southern KZN, where John and Kim Cox were busy over the last fortnight, while the Midlands and Coast gained three and Northern KZN one.
2830 remains our most poorly covered degree square with 341 cards needed.
2832 only needs 6 cards to be completely 'green', while 2930 now needs 53.

The credit for the most contributions to the CTG project again goes to John and Kim, with 12 cards. Tim Wood submitted 2 cards, while Johan and Estelle van Rooyen, and yours truly submitted a single card.
John reported that they atlased over 40 pentads in southern KZN and the Eastern Cape, 17 of which were new pentads.
Due to the way in which the pentads are allocated to each province, six of these 17 new pentads were allocated to KZN on the SABAP2 web table, so KZN has moved up from 1265 pentads to 1271pentads with coverage. Thanks John and Kim!
Unfortunately I have been using my GIS to calculate the CTG contributions, and by my calculations only one of these fell mostly in KZN, this is the one reflected on this table. As Tim Wood so rightly says, we should be looking at all pentads regardless of provincial allocation, especially this corner of the Eastern Cape. In any event the boundary has been moved anyway, there should be a whole lot more to EC anyway.
On the overall KZN front we had another good fortnight with 104 cards submitted, still with a high average of 60.0 records/card. This equates to 445.6 records/day, this is well above the KZN average of 424.8. The last time we achieved this was in January this year.
Well done KZN, and many thanks to all who contributed.

CTG fortnight ending 7-Nov-12

I have added in the Cards-to-Green map again.
A definite trend is emerging, with the areas around Richard's Bay, Durban and PMB forming core areas with an ever-expanding area radiating out from here. The CTG pentads are getting further and further away from these three centres.

13 cards were submitted in the last fortnight that contributed to the CTG effort.
The largest movement was in the 2931 degree with 5 cards.
2731 and 2732 were then tied on 3 cards each, with 2830 following with 2.
2830 remains our most poorly covered degree square with 342 cards needed. Second neediest is 2731 with 219 cards.
On the positive side 2828 only needs 4 cards to have complete four card coverage within KZN, while 2832 only needs 6 cards.

Credit for contributing CTG's goes once again to John and Kim Cox with 5 cards. At least this fortnight Malcolm Robinson provided some competition with 3 cards, Hanneline Smit and Alan Manson each contributed 2 cards and Lance Robinson one.
We have in the last 2 fortnights had 13 CTG's contributed. The previous two fortnight's had 10 CTG's.

For all cards submitted for KZN we had a good fortnight with 97 cards submitted with an average of 62.2 records/card.
This equated to a submission rate of 6.9 cards/day which is certainly at the upper end of the scale for KZN.
An interesting stat is that this works out at 431.1 records/day. The last fortnight that we achieved this was 28-Mar-2012.

Cards to Green during the fortnight ending 24-Oct-12

 We had 13 cards submitted during the last fortnight that contributed towards the "Cards-to-Green" mini-project in KZN.
A dozen of them were from the 2831 degree-square and the other was from 2832.

 All of these cards were contributed by John and Kim Cox, an excellent effort on their part. Good to see that there were two pentads with only a single card that now have their second card.
Come on the rest of KZN, let's have some contributions from the rest of you as well!

Regarding the usual stats for KZN we had a definite upsurge in submissions. This happily coincided, as one would expect in spring, with an attendant surge in species per card as well.
We had 74 cards submitted over the last two weeks with an average of 64.1 records per card, which equals 4 747 records submitted.
This was at a submission rate of 5.3 cards per day, up from 3.6 last fortnight, and the highest rate since 29-Aug-2012. The last time that we managed an average of 64.1 or higher records per card was 15-Feb-2012. Though to be fair we did manage 63.8 for the period ending 26-Sep-2012.

Card Submissions for 29-09 to 10-10-12

Here is the latest "Cards-to-Green" map for KZN.
As per the last fortnight, we have again had exactly 10 cards submitted that have contributed to the CTG mini-project.
We now need another 1,785 cards in 963 pentads.
We also have 24 pentads with no coverage;
349 pentads with only 1 card;
252 pentads with 2 cards and
142 pentads with 3 cards.

This table shows number of surveys needed in the respective degree squares in KZN, as well as the change from the last fortnightly reporting period to the current one.
For a change we have had a spread from North to South.

These are the observers who submitted cards contributing to the KZN CTG project.
Many thanks to these observers.

I have also included this map which reflects all pentads with less than 7 cards.
This is aimed at those observers wanting to get out to these pentads.
Mpumalanga overtook KZN for the first time during this last fortnight in the percentage of pentads in their province with 7 or more cards.
We were both on 25.8% on 26-09-12, and as at 10-10-12, KZN is still on 25.8%, while Mpumalanga are now on 26.2%.
Well done Mpumalanga!

We have had a fairly slow fortnight in KZN with 2,686 records submitted, against an overall average to date of of 5,954 records/fortnight [192/day against 425/day average].
We also experienced a drop in species / card. We have been experiencing an expected spring upturn from a winter low of 52.0 at the end of May. For the fortnight ending 26-09 we had an average of 63.8 spp/card, while for this last fortnight we only managed 53.7 spp/card.

Revised KZN Road Mapbook Key

This revised Map Key now includes the One and Quarter Degree Grid Cells for more reference.

Cards-to-Green for KZN

Herewith this fortnight's "Cards-to-Green" map for KZN.
I am also now keeping track of where and who is contributing to the "Cards-to-Green" numbers.
In the fortnight ending 26-09-12 we had 10 cards that contributed to this mini-project. These were as follows:

QDS	Ptd	Cards Old	Cards New	Observer
2829DD	2845_2950	1	2	Alan Manson
2830CD	2850_3015	1	2	Alan Manson
2830CD	2850_3020	1	2	Alan Manson
2831CC	2855_3110	2	3	John & Kim Cox
2831CD	2855_3115	2	3	John & Kim Cox
2831CD	2855_3120	2	3	John & Kim Cox
2929BB	2910_2945	3	4	Alan Manson
2930BA	2910_3035	3	4	Colin Summersgill
2930BC	2920_3035	3	4	Colin Summersgill
2931AB	2900_3115	2	3	John & Kim Cox

The number surveys needed for KZN is tabled below:

Cards to Green Update for KZN

As of 4th July 2012 we had 38 pentads with no data, as we head steadily towards the 100% mark for KZN. This major drop has been mostly attributable to John & Kim Cox's work between Paulpietersburg & Ithala. Alan Manson has also been steadily picking off blank penatds between Pomeroy & Washbank.

It is encouraging that we are also steadily making inroads into the pentads with less than four cards. In the last three fortnights we have averaged 1.2; 1.7 and 1.6 surveys per day respectively, or 17, 24 and 22 cards per fortnight.

It is also noteworthy that we are maintaining a steady rate of submissions per day. The KZN average is 7.8 cards per day. This usually falls off somewhat in winter, but for the fortnights ending 23/05, 6/06, 20/06 and 4/07, we averaged 8.2; 5.7; 7.5 and 5.7 cards / day respectively. What is even more encouraging is that the species per card for the same period were 52.0, 52.5, 53.0 53.6. This is set against an overall KZN average of 56.2.
It would seem that winter has not really deterred neither the atlassers, nor their subjects.

 I am pleased to announce that a map book of KZN with all of the district and local roads is now available. The book comprises 72 pages. A key of the pages is shown to the left, while an example of  page 53 [Midmar and west of PMB] is shown below. [The PDF pages are actually much clearer than this eaxmple].

The maps are based on the SGO's 1:250 000 topo-cadastral maps with road data as sourced from the KZN Dept. of Transport website overlaid. Pentads with labels are included as well as the protected areas.

The district roads and gravel "P"-class road are all labelled.

The pages are available in Adobe's PDF format, which means that all text on the overlays [D and gravel P road numbers, protected area and pentad labels] is "searchable" in Adobe Reader. Size of the files range from 733 to 2,073 KB.

While these maps cannot be used to accurately determine pentad boundaries, they are very useful for planning purposes, especially with regard to the public roads [these latter data were dated November 2010].

Email me or contact me on this blog should you require any of these maps. Thanks to Alan Manson to spurring me on to actually produce this set in PDF format and making it available here.

Quick post of a map with of the pentads with no data.

To sum up:

- 10 pentads between Paulpietersburg and Ithala GR. There are another possible 3 pentads along the Swazi border here as well. There is one pentad east of Ithala, and another 4 to the south-east, heading towards Nongoma. [17]

- 7 pentads at NE iSimangaliso WP [7/24].

- 2 pentads west of Chelmsford on the Free State border. 3 in the Biggarsberg between the N11 and FS border. 5 west of Pomeroy heading towards Wasbank. [10/34].

- 7 pentads around eMondlo, between Nqutu and Vryheid. 2 SE of Utrecht and 1 NE of Qudeni Forest [10/44].

There are singletons along the Lesotho and [old] EC borders:
- 1 SE of RNNP [2828DD - 2845_2855]
- possible 1 just touching KZN in the Cathedral Peak area [2929AB - 2905_2915]
- possible 2 at the junction of the old EC / Lesotho / KZN border [2929CC - 2955_2900, 2955_2905]
- 1 S of Matatiele [3028BD - 3025_2845]
- 1 SE of th one above [3028BD - 3030_2850]
- 1 S of Cedarville, again on the old EC border [3029CA - 3035_2905] [51]

As at today we have 1,296 penatds listed for KZN, of which 1,247 have data, so we have 49 with zero cards. It is quite difficult to determine exactly which are allocated to KZN, but in any event we should be looking at as many pentads with no data as possible. It would of course be great to have a 100% coverage figure for KZN.

Cards to Green for KZN

This is the map of the number of cards needed to turn all of KZN "green" as per the standard ADU coverage maps.
What is noticeable on this map, when comparing to the last one I put up on 18 January, is that last of the red pentads in the southern Nongoma / Mahlabatini area have disappeared, as have the last empty pentads in northern Maputuland.
This is thanks to John and Kim Cox and Richard Johnstone's continued efforts in this area after their expedition in December last year with Trish Strachan. [For a story of these efforts see Richard's post on the SABAP2 website].
Tim Wood and Peter Spence spent some of last week in northern Maptuland, when they managed to finish off the last eight empty pentads in that area. They also managed to do a fair number of second cards as well.
I hesitate to say this, as I have not done a detailed analysis yet, but my feeling is that these two areas are now have better coverage than they received in SABAP1. So well done all involved with this effort.
Alan Manson has managed to chip away at some of the empty pentads in the upper Tugela Basin [around Pomeroy], as well as some in the Berg.
There are plans afoot to try to eliminate the last of the western empty pentads. The idea is to base ourselves at Chelmsford over a weekend and look at doing as much as we can from here, but concentrating on the pentads at Nqutu and south-west of Chelmsford.
We, as the SABAP2 community that is, do have provisional permission to get the the north-eastern section of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, where there are 7 empty pentads. Please contact me for details on how to go about this. It would be really great if we could get an Atlas Bash together to tackle this area.

For depth of coverage, Tim has continued his efforts across the province to cover as much ground as possible,  planning his trips using the Excel Pentad Chart [see on RHS of this blog], to ensure as even as possible seasonal coverage.
The Cox's have also continued their systematic coverage of the broader Richard's Bay area. Their goal is to ensure as wide an area as possible within their reasonable reach, has at least 7 cards. [Though they broke their mold in the last fortnight and covered a fair sized portion from Creighton to Matatiele in southern KZN].
For the rest we have had a continous flow of cards as and when people have been able to contribute, which is really great.
Please note that although our autumn and winter cards may not be as exciting as the summer ones, they are still very valuable to the project. In fact I would say they are very nearly more valuable, as there is usually a distinct and understanderable tailing-off of submissions during winter. I am pleased to report that this does not appear to be the case this year.

ADU 20th Anniversary Celebrations in KZN

The KZN celebration  of the ADU's 20th Anniversary will be held at the Pietermaritzburg Botanic Gardens on Saturday 11 February 2012. The programme is as follows:

ADU T-shirts will be on sale at the venue, or from the ADU's online shop

09:30 Tea and coffee

10:00 Welcome - Doug Harebottle

10:05 Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2 (SABAP2) - Colin Summersgill

10:25 Southern African Butterfly Conservation Assessment (SABCA) - Steve Woodhall

10:45 Birds In Reserves Project (BIRP) - Peter Greaves

11:05 Tea 

11:30 Southern African Bird Ringing Unit (SAFRING) - Dieter Oschadleus/Mark Brown

11:50 Coordinated Waterbird Counts (CWAC) - Doug Harebottle

12:10 Southern African Reptile Conservation Assessment (SARCA) - Johan Marais

12:30 The Virtual Museums - Dieter Oschadleus

12.50 Coordinated Avifaunal Roadcounts (CAR) - Doug Harebottle

13:10 Picnic lunch

14:00 Feedback session

15:00 Wrap-up

For further information and to register look at: http://20.adu.org.za/index.php

Cards to Green for KZN

It has been quite a while since I have added anything to this blog, so the change in the map alongside is quite marked.

While we have been slowly chipping away along the N3 axis, Zululand has been moving along in leaps and bounds. This has been mostly thanks to the concerted and well planned efforts by John and Kim Cox.
Perhaps the biggest news since the last post has been the return of cards in QDS 2731DD, which has for a long time been empty. Trish Strachan, Richard Johnstone,  John and Kim Cox mounted a mini-expidition in early December 2012 and completed a number of empty pentads as well as completing second cards. So thanks to these four this QDS now has been quite well atlased.
As things stand at 20/01/2012, we have only 74 pentads of our 1296 for which we have no data. It would be really great if we could finish these pentads before the end of June 2012, or five fulls years of SABAP2.
Thanks to all have, and still are contributing to the project.