Here are three different maps to illustrate the same thing - areas of Hertfordshire where recording effort needs to be concentrated during 2005. The map below shows the tetrads (2 km x 2 km squares) of Hertfordshire for which at least one record of a moth has been received. This map shows blank tetrads from which there has NEVER been any records of any moths. From THE pre-Cambrian to the present - NOTHING. Not even a Cinnabar caterpillar. Not even a Large Blunderwing!!! It’s a good job Noah didn’t try to load his Ark in Hertfordshire - there would not be any moths!!! Please try to visit these tetrads if you can during 2005 - even if only to tick off a few day-flying species, or leaf miners, caterpillars or whatever.

The next map is drawn using DMap and shows a numerical expression of records over the county. The problem with dots maps is that the tetrad gets a dot even if it has only one species recorded. However, in the map below, whilst the same un-recorded tetrads can be seen those tetrads with less than 9 species are also apparent.Use THIS map to get a visual impression of where the poorly recorded areas of the county are in addition to the blank tetrads. Use the next to put numbers to the same map.

This is ALMOST the same map as above, but with numbers rather than different sized dots AND the numbers of species per tetrad are different. The map legend shows how many species of moth are recorded for each tetrad. Harder to get animpression but easier to see just how poorly recorded some areas are. Numbers 1 - 8 are all abysmally poorly recorded - but some are more abysmal than others!