Newsletter number 12

Autumn 2006

Edited by
14 West Road,
Bishops Stortford,
Herts CM23 3QP

Telephone: 01279-507697
Mobile 07770 766416
Email:

WELCOME

This newsletter is to bring people up to date and particularly to welcome several new members. If you receive it via e-mail you will not also get a paper copy this time. Anyone expressing an interest and giving me their contact details is automatically a member of the group. You can leave at any time by asking me to delete your name and details. There is no subscription. We organise free-to-attend field trips across the county to see and record moths throughout much of the year and we also have one indoor meeting per year (in February or March). At the indoor meeting we have an anonymous whip-round to cover costs and any money left over is used by me throughout the next year to fund the group (mainly petrol for the generators and the tea and coffee we guzzle during field trips). We do not produce accounts - I usually make a loss in any case - and the group operates on a totally informal basis with nobody committed to any particular responsibility or task.

We have now completed the final trip of 2006. I have not yet prepared a programme for 2007 nor have I even started to think about the indoor meeting. Suggestions for both are very welcome. When all is organised there will be another newsletter. I may organise some informal impromptu leaf-miner trips in October.

E-MAIL VERSUS THE POST

We now have 199 members and of these 119 have e-mail addresses that work. That means that we also have exactly 80 members that currently have to be contacted by post. If you have received this newsletter by post please assume that I do not have an e-mail address for you and, if you do in fact have an e-mail address please, let me have it so I can keep you updated with greater frequency. If you do not have e-mail - fear not - you will still receive all the important notices by post.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD TRIPS

Reports and species lists are available for all of the programmed trips that the Herts Moth Group has ever organised. Most of you will already have these via e-mail, though newer members may have missed some and very new members along with those that do not have e-mail may have none of them. If you have e-mail you can request missing lists for free (but it may take me a while). Check the programme on the web site (www.hertsmothgroup.org.uk to decide which lists you want then ask me fort these). If you do not have e-mail and would like the complete set of reports of trips made in 2006, please send me an A4 sized self-addressed envelope with postage to the value of 65 pence (i.e., costs only) with the words TRIP LISTS in the top left hand corner and I will print them and post them to you as soon as time permits.

CONTACTING OTHER MEMBERS

I have a note of those members who are happy to allow their details to be passed to others and a note of a few who prefer this not to happen. If you have not expressed a view then I will always ask you before passing your contact details to others. The membership list is private and for moth-related stuff only and is not ever made available to third parties for any purpose whatsoever.

MORE ON E-MAILS ...

That leads me on to one of the very few rules we have (this is mainly aimed at new members). If you are reading this newsletter by e-mail please note that YOU MUST NEVER click on the Reply-to-all button. There are three reasons for this. First, the reply will not reach all members - I deliberately split the list so that the address list is never available as a single unit. Second, some members have expressed a specific desire that they should not be contacted by other members. Third, it is impolite to share your replies to me with other members, thus filling up their in-boxes with irrelevant messages. THIS mailing list is for myself and Andrew Wood only to inform members of what is going on.

However, we DO have a means by which members can communicate with each other - the Herts Moth Discussion Group.

*To join in with this send an e-mail by clicking

I have to approve you - so making sure that we don’t get joined by junk mailers etc. The system sends you a confirmation. You reply and then you are in. You can then do the following:

* To post a message to this group, send email by clicking

* To unsubscribe from this group, send email by clicking

A message sent is read by ALL subscribers and all replies also go to all subscribers. You can discuss any aspect of moths and mothing here but please remember that there may be younger people reading so moderate what you say accordingly.

Of course, any member is welcome to at any time.

In case you were wondering - the other rule we have is “no dogs on field trips”.

NATIONAL MOTH NIGHT 2006

That was 23rd September. Please submit all NMN lists for Hertfordshire and Middlesex via me, as county recorder. If you do not - then (1) records will be entered twice on the national database if you also send them to me and (2) time will be wasted, if you do not, when the NMN people send the records back to me asking if they are reliable! It is my task as recorder to validate the records from Herts and Middlesex and send them in (with your name on them, of course) via the Map Mate Sync programme.

National Moth night records should please reach me in the form of a list of species together with the numbers of each species caught on 23rd September 2006. Please don’t forget to give the trap locality and to send me separate lists for each separate place. Don’t forget to include your own name as recorder. Please send all NMN data tome by the end of October 2006.

HOW TO SEND IN OTHER MOTH RECORDS TO ME

National Moth Night is a special case. As Recorder for Herts and Middlesex I am also interested in every other moth record you have for these areas, from your extensive garden lists to that odd sighting of a Cinnabar caterpillar on a ragwort plant on the central reservation of the M25 whilst you were queuing for the road works; from the list you made by examining the insect-o-cutor in Sainsbury’s to the sighting of a mine on bramble leaf you made whilst walking the dog. There is no moth record from Herts and Middlesex that I do not want - I want it all. Everything. The lot. The full Monty. All. OK? Don’t forget that I record micros as well as macros.

What is a record?

A record is a report of a species, at a place, on a date, ideally also with the number of individuals also recorded. The recorders name (you) should always accompany the record. If a different person named the moth, then that too should be recorded.

What do I ideally want?

Nightly species lists with numbers of individuals of each species for every night that the trap was run (both in your garden and elsewhere) as well as all casual sightings of all species in the two counties (and remember that Middlesex includes all of London east to the River Lea).

Why do I want it?

Because we are now in the final stages of preparing the Herts Moth Atlas for publication and because, when that is out of the way, the next project is the Middlesex Moth Atlas.

When do I want it

Ideally at the end of the year for garden lists etc, but if you want to send casual records or lists from occasional trips out as they arise then that is fine.

How should the lists be sent?

We now divide into two camps ...

People with no computer or no computer skills

I realise that nightly hand-written or typed lists are a problem for you. As a minimum, therefore, I would ask for a complete list for the year. This can be done in your own format or on one of the four recording forms we have available free (alphabetic by English name; alphabetic by Latin name, Taxonomic order by English name; Taxonomic order by Latin name). Phone or write and ask for a blank form of your choice. Pay attention to those species where we ask for dates and numbers to be provided and be prepared for me to ask for dates and numbers of other species that interest me. Post lists to me as soon as possible in December.

People with computerised data

First, please note that I do not automatically accept synced Map Mate files, because this does not allow me any facility to edit or delete your data if I judge it to be wrong. If you want to send data this way I am happy to receive it BUT you need to talk to me first so that we can ensure both that the records are accurate and that the names of species, sites etc are compatible with the main database.

If you keep data in Excel, then we would like to receive the Excel files - not print outs. It is necessary to do some jiggery-pokery to get your date into the correct format for import to Map Mate (the main database) - this is usually performed by Andrew Wood after I have validated the records. It is important that the Excel files are sent to me not Andrew ... we have a system that works, please help us to use it!

If you have data in some format other than Excel or Map Mate we need to talk about whether or not we can handle it in that format. In THIS instance please e-mail first and discuss it with him

If your data is in Word, or if all else fails, save the data as a file and e-mail it to me as it is.

What do we do with the data?

I will always contact you if I want to query a record. Please don’t get upset ... the only people who need to get upset are those whose records I don’t query, as it probably means I don’t love them any more! Whilst we aim to have fun on the trips out and enjoy moths, my task as recorder is to ensure absolute accuracy in the database. I will almost certainly ask you about at least one of your records - just as a point of principle!

The data is used to produce the Herts Moth Atlas - about which more another time. In addition, Andrew Wood will extract the more interesting points and use this in the annual review of Herts and Middlesex butterflies and moths that he produces in his role as Butterfly Conservation’s Moth Officer for the two counties. If any data is site sensitive (e.g., obtained whilst trespassing) please make sure you tell us so we don’t embarrass you in print! Your name will be credited to the records we publish.

MOTH TRAPS, OTHER EQUIPMENT AND GENERALLY GETTING STARTED

I hope to write a longer article on this subject in due course. In the meantime don’t buy equipment without talking to us first as we can advise you on what to get and how not to get ripped off. We usually recommend Anglian Lepidopterists Supplies as the best and usually cheapest supplier because Jon Clifton, who runs the company provides a friendly, reliable after-sales backup service and is always happy (!) to hear from you if something goes wrong with anything you bought off him. ALS usually have a sales counter at our indoor meeting - so you can save postage costs on heavy goods ordered in advance.

AND FINALLY .... Special survey effort - the Horse chestnut leaf-miner moth

The map below shows the current distribution. This time last year it was absent from most of the county. Is it now everywhere. Look at the photo - now go out and find it then report all sightings to me so they can be mapped (but beware of leaves simply going autumn brown - look for the whitish mines).

CONTACT DETAILS

Herts and Middlesex Moth Recorder, 14 West Road, Bishops Stortford, CM23 3QP
01279-507697

Butterfly Conservation Moth Officer for Herts and Middlesex, 93 Bengeo Street, Hertford, SG14 3EZ.

Paper copies of this newsletter are generously printed and distributed for the Group by the:

c/o Environment
County Hall
Pegs Lane
Hertford
SG13 8DN
tel: 01992 555220
Fax:01992 556152