The Sussex Butterfly Olympic Square Scramble 2012

In 2010 Sussex Butterfly Conservation held the first ever Butterfly Race. Seven teams took part in a mad dash around the county counting as many butterflies as they could in as many tetrads (2km squares) as they could visit.

In 2010 the Purple Pirates (Neil Hulme & Tom Ottley) romped (and hobbled) home to win the first Scramble – with 157 points.

In 2011 (with Tom and Neil out of the competition) the race took part again. It had to be postponed for a week due to torrential rain. Sadly one team (The Aldwick Admirals) didn’t get the message that the race had been postponed and ended up drenched on top of The Trundle near Goodwood! In the end the Mothers of Invention (Michael Blencowe and Mike Mullis) took the top prize with a record-breaking 159 points.

Aside from the nail-biting excitement the event helped us get many more records for our 2010-14 Atlas project. Due to popular demand we'll be holding the event again this year – why not grab a partner and get scramblin'!

Date: Sunday 9 July 2012

Time: 10am-2pm on the dot!

Here's the rules – please take time to read them. If you need any further information please contact me.

The scramble starts at 10am on the dot on Sunday 9 July 2012. Competitors can choose their starting positions and start recording butterflies right away.
The focus of the contest is on recording species in a variety of different tetrads (2km squares in Sussex). There are 1023 tetrad squares in Sussex (although I shall be blocking some of these out! – see below). It is important that you identify the tetrads correctly.
Tetrad squares are made up of 4 of the 1km squares that you see on OS maps so are 2km X 2km. A tetrad is easily identified as the bottom left hand square's grid reference has two even numbered co-ordinates. So TQ4020 is the bottom left hand 1km square of the 4 squares of that tetrad (the other 1km squares that make up that tetrad would be TQ4120, TQ4021 and TQ4121). If you need more information or tetrad maps of the area you are planning on visiting please contact me.
Each butterfly species recorded within the boundaries of a tetrad (2km sq) will count as one point (Gatekeeper=1 point, Purple Emperor = 1 point) Competitors will therefore visit a 2km tetrad square and try to find as many species as possible within that tetrad. Once they feel that they have 'exhausted' that tetrad's potential they can move on to another tetrad.
In the next tetrad they visit the same rules apply (so the Gatekeeper in tetrad 2 will again add 1 point to your total score). In this way competitors will have to cover a number of squares in the 4 hours and there will be some different strategies involved – do you race around a load of tetrads counting 5 species in each? Or take longer and count 15 species in a tetrad for example. You'll have to plan your route and choose your tetrads wisely – and you'll have to keep an eye on those Small / Essex Skippers – remember each species is worth a point.
Teams will consist of no more than 2 people. The team can split up within a tetrad but are not allowed to split up into different tetrads - competitors must all be in the same tetrad when recording to make those sightings valid.
Teams must email me to register and will receive their recording forms. I will need to know who is in the team and please give yourselves a team name. Teams must register before Friday 7 July.
All butterflies have to be recorded in Sussex and they have to be Sussex butterfly species – so no sneaking off to the zoo!
Because everyone will no doubt be planning to drive straight to High & Over, Windover Hill etc – sites with a lot of butterflies - but where we already have plenty of records - we'll be blocking out a load of squares from Newhaven to Eastbourne. The blocked out area has these tetrads at its coners; TQ4404, TQ5804, TV4494, TV5894. Records from these squares within this area will not be valid.
In the 2010 scramble some smart folk realised that Cissbury Ring was on the junction of 4 tetrads – so I'm blocking this out in 2011 (so there!)

Complete list of blocked out squares for 2011: TQ4404, TQ4604, TQ4804, TQ5004, TQ5204, TQ5404, TQ5604, TQ5804, TQ4402, TQ4602, TQ4802, TQ5002, TQ5202, TQ5202, TQ5602, TQ5802, TQ4400, TQ4600, TQ4800, TQ5000, TQ5200, TQ5400, TQ5600, TQ5800, TV4498, TV4698, TV4898, TV5098, TV5298, TV5498, TV5698, TV5898, TV4496, TV4696, TV4896, TV5096, TV5296, TV5496, TV5696, TV5896, TV4494, TV4694, TV4894, TV5094, TV5294, TV5494, TV5694, TV5894

…and Cissbury Ring: TQ1208, TQ1408, TQ1206, TQ1406
To add some extra thrills there's the 'Humming-bonus Hawk-moth' - a random element that can appear (albeit briefly!) in any square at any time. If a Hummingbird Hawk-moth is seen in any of your tetrad squares 3 points can be added to that square (one Humming-bonus per square).
At 2pm on the dot the scramble is over. Any species seen after this time (while walking back to your car etc) do not count. Competitors will add up the total number of species seen in all the tetrads they visited to determine their final score.
Results are then phoned in or emailed to our independent adjudicator (Bob Foreman) before 6pm on July 17th. The final scores will then be announced on the sightings page of the website. It's important too that you submit your records for the atlas – recording sheets can be posted to me later to enter in our Mapmate database.

To register your team, get recording sheets and for further information:
Michael Blencowe - (01323 423711) - sussexgrayling@aol.com

To report your total score:
Bob Foreman – 07769 652528 - bob@littlesnails.com