BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION - DORSET BRANCH Minutes of a Committee Meeting Held on 14 th September 2015 At the Church Hall, Pimperne Present: Apologies: Nigel Spring (chair), Robin George, Bill Shreeves, Bob Steedman, Adrian Neil, Arthur Bryant, Richard Norman, Lyn Pullen, Keith Howland. Georgie Laing, Brian Dicker. 1. Declarations of Interest Nigel regarding reserves management and education contracts. 2. Minutes of Last Meeting (15.07.15) The minutes were accepted as a correct record and signed by the chairman. 3. Matters Arising Martin Warren's Talk. Nigel has arranged a joint meeting with RSPB on 31 st October at Upton Community Hall. We will pay for the hall. Adrian will ask Barbara Droop and Joan Durran if they can help with the refreshments. Nigel will also ask RSPB.. & Nigel AGM. Hamish Murray has agreed to give the talk. Nigel has circulated an email about it. Sponsorship (Item 4). Richard had spoken to someone in NFU Mutual about the possibility of their sponsoring a leaflet. He had also learnt that they have a hall in Sturminster Newton that would be available for us to use. Photos etc. Lyn has put a request on the website for help to organise the photos held by the branch, but it made her realise that we need to determine the uses for which we need the library of photographs. These were thought to be for the website, publicity and talks (including the ID days). It was pointed out that the better the resolution, the more useful they would be and the ones of a satisfactory standard could go on Flickr. Other possible sources of images were Phil Grey s collection and those held by B.C. H.Q. However, obtaining them might cause a delay and, whilst the possibility of drawing on these collections was not ruled out, it was thought it would probably be easier to use our own. Someone is needed to take on the project and to be the contact person and it was agreed that an appeal for help could also be put in the Newsletter. Mark Pike had expressed an interest in doing something, but he would probably like to be paid. Nigel said that we should reply to him. It was also mentioned during the discussion that Roger Smith is selling his library of books. Action: Nigel & Lyn Contact Details. Adrian just needs to finalise one or two people's details. When he has done that he will send the list to Lyn. 4. Finance 1
Georgie had circulated her report. The bank balance is 18,630. There is some concern that Natural England has not paid a grant that is due. Georgie has no concerns from a financial point of view if it is agreed to include the purchase of a brushcutter in voluntary expenditure (see later under A.O.B). 5. The Newsletter. Lyn said she thought that Guy plans to send it to the printers by next weekend. Stuffing could be done in the week after it gets to E. Lulworth. Lyn explained that when it was decided to go down to two newsletter per year from three, the idea was that she would produce a Butterfly Report on the previous year to go out between the spring and autumn issues. She was unable to manage that timetable this year, but she thinks that she can get the 2014 Report ready to go with the Newsletter currently in preparation. Bill will try to send his S. Dorset report to her quickly, but if it isn't ready in time Lyn will omit all the regional reports. Nigel will proofread the Report. Lyn explained that it will actually be cheaper to post the Report sand Newsletter together rather than separately. Adrian will find out from Manor Yard when the conference room will be available for stuffing in the week beginning the 28 th September (assuming that the Newsletter arrives from the printers by then). Lyn said that at the next AGM she would like to raise the matter of electronic copies of the Newsletter and Butterfly Reports to see whether the membership is still firmly in favour of continuing with the paper version. Nigel thought that we should try to find a better way of dealing with the issue than taking a vote and we could tell Guy to put something in the next Newsletter to ask members if they would like to receive them electronically. Robin pointed out that we need to ensure that people who receive the electronic versions are not also sent a paper one. 6. Publicity Leaflets Bridget De Whalley had sent Adrian a list of leaflets that she has and also examples of each. He will circulate the list. It was agreed that not all of the subjects were of interest to us, but we would like to have introductory leaflets on butterflies, moths and caterpillars designed so that they folded out into an ID guide on the back. In addition a leaflet on garden butterflies would be useful. We could produce them on our own, but it would be worth raising the matter at a Branch Liaison Meeting to find out if other branches were interested. Nigel said that we should try to obtain a guide price and could ask B.C. H.Q what the cost had been of the three leaflets they still have (i.e. the latest cost of printing them and the print run). Adrian will find out and will ask whether there are any originals (e.g. PDFs) of the general leaflets such as the one on caterpillars). 7. Events Arthur has sent Guy the next list of events until March. He has followed up the suggestions made at the last meeting. In relation to the possibility of a joint visit with the Devon Branch to the coastal area on the border of the two counties to look for Wood Whites, Bill had circulated an email correspondence with Phil Parr that pointed out problems with access because of recent landslips. Adrian had mentioned the matter to Martin Warren who suggested that Donald Campbell might be 2
interested. - Robin said that he was her uncle. Bill thought that Chris Paul will probably go to have look next summer and Robin thought that if people were interested they should contact him, however, he might not wish to have anyone else going with him. Arthur will also contact Paul Butter about the matter. Action: Arthur 8. News From the Reserves Broadcroft. Nigel had spoken to Tim Clotworthy, the agent for Stone Firms Ltd., about the sign that Georgie had seen saying that the reserve was closed for quarrying. Tim had told him that it had just happened for one day. Nigel asked to be given notice the next time this happened. Tim said that the tenancy contract with B.C. will not be renewed until it is clear whether the Jurassica project is going ahead. He suggested that John Davis should write to Michael O' Hanlon to find out what the position is regarding Jurassica and what the prospects are. In the meantime, Nigel has an email stating that we can continue to work there. Adrian will draft a letter for Nigel to send to John. Alner's Gorse. Martin Warren had seen a fresh Brown Hairstreak there recently. The sighting attracted a lot of visitors and Nigel had put out a leaflet asking for financial contributions. Kathy has been pulling Hoary Ragwort. The fence along the western side of the reserve (about 200 m.) needs to be replaced and most of the budget for Alner's has now been spent. Nigel passed round details of the accounts for the reserves in 2015/16. These indicated that expenditure is less than the budgets for all reserves, especially Lankham Bottom. He suggested that some money could be transferred to Alner's from Lankham and he will ask Georgie about this. Nigel thought that we might get back about 500 for grazing at Rooksmoor. Nigel felt that there should be a separate budget for the ponies and there could then be fundraising for them. Lyn asked if the ponies were being successful and Nigel said that Bryan Edwards had told him that the area the ponies had grazed looked fantastic. They had also done a good job at Rooksmoor. 9. Education Activities There was nothing to report. 10. The Website Lyn said that everything was going well. Andrew and Jo were very enthusiastic about doing the social media and at the latest count there had been more than 1,000 followers on Twitter and 679 Facebook likes. Georgie had asked for Andrew and Jo to be formally thanked by the committee. Lyn was also thanked for overseeing what they do. Bob said that the website was working well from the moth point of view. Arthur ensures that our events go on to the national website. 11. Membership Robin reported that, after the removal of the email link on the website to her as membership secretary, there had been a period when an unknown number of emails had been lost. Most of them probably came from H.Q. Robin is now getting emails via her personal address. The current membership total is 817; last year the big rise in membership had been in in September - October. 3
12. Recognition of Long Service Bill said he thought that recognition could be more or less formal and really was a matter of personal choice. Up to now transect co-ordinators had tended to commend long-term walkers at the regional meetings and a mention was sometimes put in the Newsletter, but it was difficult to decide who to include. Now that walk results are entered online on Transect Walker it would be harder for Bill to identify individual walkers. Bob suggested that we could ask in the Newsletter for nominations of people who had done a lot. Robin added that one or two certificates could then be given out at the AGM, but Keith pointed out that there would have to be criteria in order to avoid upsetting people and this made the whole matter complicated. Nigel said that for now a note in fairly general terms could be put in the Newsletter (if there is still space) and we can give the matter further consideration at the next meeting. 13. Email Security The Branch E-newsletter circulated by Susan Anders in July contained a section about the risk of members email addresses being accessed by third parties. Robin and Adrian had emailed Richard Heafield at HQ to ask for more information about the Dotmailer system that was mentioned, but had not heard anything. Lyn thought that such systems just make things more organised and the general view was that they were not really relevant for Branch purposes and we could wait to see if anything further happens. However, the matter will be put on the agenda for the next meeting. 14. Any Other Business Buddleia Survey. Lyn asked if we should ask for help with the survey. Bill said that an actual survey was not needed this year, but we did need people to go to have a look and there was something about it on the website. Lyn suggested that we could put out a request for someone to take over organising the arrangements from Bill; we didn t want the landowners to think that we were not grateful for the work on their collection. Fontmell Transect. was short of walkers. Bill said that the transect was still running this year with a diversion, but it Training Certificates. Arthur informed the meeting that first aid and brush cutter certificates will run out next January. Nigel suggested that we could ask the Red Cross to put on a one-day course. Rampisham Down. Adrian mentioned that the Dorset Wildlife Trust has made an appeal for money to fund the costs of a public enquiry now that the planning application has been called in. He asked if it were appropriate for the Branch to make a contribution, but Nigel and several others did not think that it was. Brushcutters. There was a discussion about the exchange of emails regarding the Branch s needs for brushcutters. The Branch owns three, but they are not generally used on the Branch reserves and there are problems of availability, for instance in the summer when Nigel wanted to borrow one from Lawrie. Nigel said that he does not necessarily want to buy any more as they would only need to be used occasionally, but he would just like to have access to extra machines if this were possible. Arthur said that he just uses his two at certain times in the winter months. Keith pointed out that the problem with equipment that is shared is one of maintenance and they need to be checked when they are handed over. Nigel said that nothing needs to happen until next summer, but it was generally agreed that the 4
Branch machines could be made available for use on BC reserves if the need arose then (e.g. ragwort cutting on Lankham, blackthorn regrowth cutting at Alner s and clematis and bramble clearing on Broadcroft and Perryfields). If they are needed in places other than BC reserves, we could possibly ask landowners to help with funding their use as they might be getting grants for conservation. 15. Date of Next Meeting. This has already been agreed for 18 th November and Adrian has booked the Pimperne Village Hall. It was decided to hold the following meeting on 18 th January 2016 and it was agreed to try the Church hall again if Adrian can book it. A.N. 24.10.15 5