Let's Light a LAMP for SABAP2

LAMP, the Long Autumn Migration Project, starts 1 March

LAMP is like BASH, the Big Atlasing Summer Holiday, which atlasers did in December and January. LAMP is the SABAP2 challenge for the autumn months, from the beginning of March until the end of May. Whereas the emphasis in BASH was unashamedly "wide" first, and "deep" second, LAMP is the other way round. Autumn is one of the key periods for SABAP2. One of the objectives for SABAP2 is to help us to define the timing of migration. We live in an era of climate change, and one predictions is that the timing of migration will change. For most of our migrants, autumn is the departure period. Atlasing, SABAP2-style, is the most brilliant way to monitor departure. As migrants depart, they get fewer and fewer and it takes longer and longer before you encounter them, and then you realize, gosh, it is three weeks since last I had a Barn Swallow on my list.
The three months March-pril-May represent the only opportunity we will ever have to quantify migrant departure in the autumn of 2009. The best way to do this is go "deep" and to make repeated checklists for pentads.
We still want our atlasers to go wide, to reach the unatlased and underatlased pentads. But particularly in autumn (and spring) there is huge value in going deep, and that is what LAMP is all about.
We hope that there will be more than 200 pentads with at least 5 lists each, 50 pentads with at least 10 lists and 10 pentads with at least 15 lists.
How about setting yourself the target of doing your favourite pentad every weekend this autumn?
Les.