Dear Keir and all,
While you're looking for butterflies, bees, or whatever, don't forget
to keep a note of any ladybirds - however common or garden ..
(a) we have quite good distribution of records but I shan't be happy
until the common species are mapped for all tetrads. I've made the
point before that distribution maps of rarer species are pretty
meaningless unless we can compare them with abundant ones.
(b) the fluctuations in abundance continue - since 1997 there has
been only one year that could be described as 'good' (not 'great' and
certainly not a 'plague' year). These ups-and-downs obviously apply
to many other groups but are so much easier to measure with ladybirds.
(c) "new" species continue to be found. It is good to keep an eye on
these and very useful to be able to mark their establishment and
spread. The Bryony Ladybird (Epilachna argus) is now spreading from
its N Surrey origin into Middlesex as well as east and south. This is
a quite obvious ladyird (quite large, all red - including the
pronotum - except for 20ish black spots) and mainly found on white
bryony so is likely to be easily seen and identified by
lepidopterists & al.
Contributions can easily be made with little effort while tracking
other insects or plants.
Cheers, Paul
--- In London-nhs-invertebrates@yahoogroups.com, "Keir Mottram"
<keirm@l...> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> If the bumble bee survey is not enough to satisfy your appetite
this summer,
> then please consider contributing to this year's square-bashing
exercise run
> by the Herts&Middlesex branch of Butterfly Conservation.
>
> Details are referenced in John Murray's email below. Feel free to
spread the
> word as widely as possible.
>
> For those not familiar with the HMBC website, I can thoroughly
recommend
> it - http://www.hmbutterflyconservation.org.uk/
>
> Cheers,
> Keir.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "J.B.Murray" <J.B.Murray@o...>
>
> Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 12:34 PM
> Subject: 2004 challenge
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> 2004 is the final year of our second 5-year butterfly mapping
project,
> and Liz Goodyear has now put a map on the website that shows
coverage of
> Herts & Middx. up to the end of 2003. She is also going to put
yellow
> squares for the locations that recorders have said they will
cover. The
> map and instructions can be found at:
>
>
http://www.btinternet.com/~michael.goodyear/BCHM/Recording/all_species
distribution2000-3.htm
>
>
> There are plenty of blank squares left, and even more "blue dot"
> squares, most of which have only had one visit in poor weather.
Please
> have a look at this, and if you can afford the time to visit some
of the
> blank areas, then let me and Liz Goodyear know, and she will colour
your
> squares yellow to avoid duplication by others.
>
> The decline of butterflies has been on the national news lately,
and as
> well as transects we need to show how butterfly distributions are
> changing, so a good coverage of our area is important.
>
> Best of luck,
>
> John Murray
>
>
>
> ---
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