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.