· Web viewColin has reported that income and expenditure for 2015 roughly balanced at £3000. The annual expenditure includes about £700 for project type expenses. Barry asked

MINUTES OF EAST SCOTLAND BRANCH COMMITTEE MEETING – 18 FEBRUARY 2016AT BC OFFICES STIRLING.

Present: Barry Prater ( Branch Chairman ), , Helen Rowe ( Aberdeen Area Organiser ), Glyn Edwards ( Angus and Perthshire Butterfly Recorder ), Duncan Davidson ( Fife and Clacks. Butterfly Recorder & Fife Area Organiser), Paul Brooks (Angus contact ), Richard Buckland ( Membership and Newsletter Secretary & Lothians Area Organiser), David Lampard(Organiser; Tayside area sub-group), Cathy Cauldwell(Organiser; Perthshire area sub-group), Apithanny Bourne(Young Persons Development Officer).

1). Barry Prater welcomed all present.Apologies : Colin Whitehead.Paul Kirkland had been invited to the meeting but was unable to attend.

2). Declaration of Interests. None were declared.

3). Approval of the minutes of previous meeting ( 15 September 2015 ). These were agreed to be a true record.

4). Matters arising not covered later.a) Working with LBAPs.Barry had issued a summary sheet of current Branch involvement with LBAPs. ( see Appendix 1 )LBAPs are considered a good contact point for BC to work with local groups to improve the knowledge and profile of butterflies and moths.There is good contact with most areas. Whilst there is no formal LBAP for the Falkirk area Richard has checked out some more sites for Large Heath. None were found, but Green Hairstreaks and Small Pearl- Bordered Fritillaries were.b) Conflict of InterestBarry had been actioned to see if there was a conflict of interest if members who have a professional role in ecology carried out data analysis for the Branch which could be used for their own commercial gain. Since it seemed there would be no further progress on this idea it was no longer an issue.c) Butterfly TransectsThere had been concerns raised that some long established transects were no longer taking place. Most issues concerning these have been resolved. There are 3 remaining to be sorted out:Culver Wood – Helen Rowe to chaseWhitelaw Mosses – Sarah Eno has volunteered to get a group together to restart this transect this year.Callendar Wood – Barry has asked Simon Metcalf to see if any of his recorders in this area could be asked to restart this transect.d) Transects in GeneralGenerally transect data is not sent to butterfly recorders but directly to Wareham for analysis. It is thus not verified by local Butterfly Recorders. The transect data is available on the UK BMS website – results for 2015 transects are now available. Transect records are currently not usually included in the local Butterfly Recorders results which are sent to Richard Fox. Barry thought that the local recorders should monitor the transects for their areas. Action : Barry to check with Richard fox how transect data is used.

5.) Branch Finances and Support for BC Scotland Projects.Colin has reported that income and expenditure for 2015 roughly balanced at £3000. The annual expenditure includes about £700 for project type expenses.

Barry asked if anyone had specific spending plans or suggestions.Helen Rowe : A Dark Bordered Beauty meeting money for fencing continued to be a possibility.

Duncan had a couple of suggestions : a) Training Courses : e.g. Get Jon Clifton to do a course on Dissection. Branch would probably support, but since this is a very specialized area it could probably be arranged for and funded by all the Scottish Branches. e.g. Mapmate. Barry noted that there is now an excellent video training course for Mapmate produced by BSBI (Botanical Society for Britain and Ireland ) Link – https://sites.google.com/a/bsbi.org.uk/bsbimapmate/. In general the Branch would support training.b) Local Meetings.Money may be needed for local groups to hire a venue for local meetings e.g. id training etc.The Branch would support such activity.

The Branch has received a request from Paul Kirkland for funding for the Bog Squad and the Butterfly Urban Project. There were several points of view on this including :

1) The Branch should spend its money only on Branch activities2) The Branch should support wider BC projects.3) BC Scotland should ensure that they have sufficient funds themselves to support their own projects

There was general agreement that Branch funds should be used for conservation and in earlier feedback to the request most members supported some financial help for BC Scotland.Apithanny thought that a Branch covering such a large area should have more of its own projects on which to spend the money.The Branch has about£4500 in the bank with about £3000 available for projects. The Branch does not generate any significant income and once the money is spent it is unlikely that it will be replaced. Barry proposed we give £1000 to BC Scotland now, but any future commitments would be delayed until costs of local projects are identified. Proposal supported by the committee. Action - Barry to arrange payment to BC Scotland following further consultation with Colin.

6.) Committee Membership/roles following resignation of Chairman.( See Appendix 2 )Barry stated that the Branch has a good positive profile within Butterfly Conservation and the wider conservation/wildlife community and that though he is standing down as Chairman in June he is keen, as is the rest of the committee, that this be maintained. The committee considered who could take over some of the tasks listed in Appendix 2Glyn agreed to take over the role of Branch Secretary.Duncan had reviewed the active members in his area and thought 2 of them may be interested in conservation type roles.Duncan questioned whether the ‘interests’ form filled in by members when they join BC may indicate people who would be interested in the role. Richard stated that very few forms were filled in as most communications were electronic.Overall there were not many suggestions on the set-up for the post-Barry Committee. Barry asked the committee to let him have any ideas as to how his role could be allocated to other people.Barry’s resignation will be announced in the Newslettter which will shortly be sent out to all members. Hopefully this will generate some interest from other members willing to play a greater part in the Branch.

7.) A.G.M. ( see Appendix 3 )The arrangements for this meeting are complete. Barry went to the launch of ‘The State of The UK Butterflies 2015’, where he was very impressed by the talk given by Chris Packham. He is hoping to get a DVD of the speech so it can be shown at the meeting.The Rules state that 1/3 of the Committee should stand for re-election each year. Since the last AGM was 3 years ago all the current committee will need to stand for re-election. All agreed to stand for re-election. David thought it would be useful if the committee could make contact at the AGM with any members from their areas who attend the meeting.The AGM notification that will be sent out with the ‘newsletter’ should contain a line that states that anyone attending the meeting can stand for election to any of the posts. Action – Barry to send Richard a modified AGM notice for inclusion in the Newsletter.

8.) Recorders’ GatheringThe format for the meeting this year is slightly different in so far as the individual Branches will not be giving presentations. Tom Prescott will present the priorities for Scotland which may not include Branch priorities.The prime species for the Branch this year will be the Northern Brown Argus. Proposed activities will be on the ‘East Branch’ stand and any maps, sites, etc. should be sent to Barry for inclusion on the stand.The preferred methodology for the survey would be timed counts as this would give data which can be compared with future surveys.

Cathy has come across a methodology for timed counts for NBA eggs which she will try and find.Action : Cathy to circulate egg counting methodology

9.) Moth Atlas2016 is the last year for collecting records for inclusion in the Atlas.The status for each region was reviewed:Borders : Barry said there are still some gaps which he hoped would be visited this year.

E. & W. Lothian : Mark Cubitt has the situation well under control. He has developed a team of about 10 trappers to cover the region.

Mid Lothian : Similarly Alistair Somerville is developing a good team of helpers and all is going to plan.

Fife : There are plans to get more under recorded squares visited this year. Gerald Lincoln is organizing most of the trapping.

Perthshire : The situation in Perthshire is not fully known. There are patches here which are under recorded but these are mostly in remote areas.Action – Barry to contact Julie Stoneman for update on the current plans. Cathy to contact John Thorpe for update.

Angus : The issue regarding records not reaching Head Office in time has been resolved.Paul and David are the only’ travelling’ trappers in Angus.The situation in Angus has improved dramatically over the past 4 years. There are now only 2 blank squares in Angus and 1 where only 1-9 species have been recorded. These will all be targeted this year.

David gave a brief update on cataloging the Dundee Museum Collections. With the assistance of a grant a person, Georgie, is now employed to go through and catalogue the collections.

The quality of the information regarding the site location of the specimens is variable but some verification will be available for inclusion in the Moth Atlas.David to inform Committee if any help is needed with identification, though Roy Leverton is the obvious first point of contact.

Aberdeenshire and Banff : VC91, 92, & 94 all have a few poorly recorded squares. VC93 has quite a number of poorly recorded squares. Action : Helen to discuss with the VC moth recorders to see what plans they have for 2016

10.) Butterfly Records.Barry has been in contact with new recorders and all are coping with the records for their area.Helen has been in contact with Glenn at the Biological Record Centre and has only received a few records which have been dealt with.All Records : When Duncan was responsible for all records for the East Scotland Branch all the records were sent in together to BC Head Office. Under the new arrangement there will be 5 sets of records submitted. It was agreed that it would be very useful for the Branch to have a full Branch set of records and Iain Cowe had offered to do this once all the records were available.It was also agreed that distribution maps across the Branch would be valuable and Duncan said he would be prepared to do this on Mapmate if all the data were sent to him. He raised the issue that Mapmate seems to becoming more problematical with new versions of Windows. He uses Windows 8 and does not update Mapmate and this seems to work well for him.Another option would be to get Mark Cubitt to produce the maps. Mark has set up an extremely efficient system for producing moth distribution maps and it may be easy for him to do the same for butterflies.Action – Barry to contact Mark to determine the best way to achieve this.

11.) Future MeetingsDates deferred till new Chair appointed

12.) A.O.B.Helen – S & H Pollinator :Helen confirmed that Paul Kirkland had received a copy of this draft document and will respond on behalf of BC and request that other members also respond.Barry – Photo Exhibition:There are about 12 photos that were exhibited in Aberdeen last year. Apithanny confirmed that she may use them again this year but they are available if anyone else wants to use them.Barry – Newsletter:In hand with the ‘Event.’ Section to be completed. Barry to send in events for Borders. Paul has put his online. Helen has sent hers to Richard.Barry – NBA Group in Borders:Barry, Richard, Tom Prescott and Malcolc Lindsay are looking into a possible NBA project in the Yarrow Valley. Currently working through the agri-environmental aspects for which Tom’s experience is helpful.Barry – Events feedback:Barry reminded everyone that he has sent out a request for feedback (numbers attending etc. ) for events held in 2015. Due by the end of February.Action : All who ran events in 2015 to respond by 29th February.

Barry thanked everyone for attending the meeting.

Circulation of MinutesAll Committee members, Mark Cubitt, Iain Cowe, Simon Metcalf, Glen Roberts, Trevor Woodford, Malcolm Lindsay, Paul Kirkland, Diane Garland (BC HQ ), Susan Anders ( Branch Support Officer, BC HQ ), Mark Young, Michael Johnston.

Appendix 1 – East Scotland Branch involvement with LBAPs‘

East Scotland Branch involvement with Local Biodiversity Action Partnerships (LBAPs) and Biological Record Centres

Organisation + period of

Biodiversity Action Plan + "LBAP Officer"

Area Covered Key species mentioned in BAP

Branch Involvement Further Involvement?

NE Scotland LBAPRose Toney

Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray

see NE Scotland Priority Species list, includes NBA, PBF, SPBF, LH, SB, DS, DBB, Cousin German, Netted MM, N Dart, Sword-grass, lunar Yellow Underwing.

Helen Rowe – Woodlands Ecosystem GroupMark Young, Ken Watt

Cairngorms Nature Action Plan(2013-2018)Stephen Corcoran, David Hetherington, Justin Prigmore

Cairngorms National Park

Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Dark Bordered Beauty, Kentish Glory, Small Dark Yellow Underwing plus long list of 'important invertebrates'

Helen Rowe, Tom Prescott, Mark Young – Priority Invertebrates Group

?Nick Picozzi, ?Brian Stewart, ?Will Telfer

Tayside LBAP(2015-2025)Catherine Lloyd

Perth & Kinross, Angus, Dundee

Small BlueGrayling(Plan being revised 2016)

David LampardBarry Prater

Glyn EdwardsCathy Caudwell

Fife LBAP Fife Green Hairstreak Duncan Davidson –

(2013-2018)Julie Horsburgh

Woodland Group, Lowland & Farming Group

Clacks LBAP(2012-2017) Lisa Ford

Clacks Northern Brown Argus, SPBF

? Glyn Edwards

Falkirk LBAP(2011-2014)

Falkirk SPBF, Large Heath, Common Blue, Green Hairstreak, Sword-grass

?

Edinburgh LBAP(2010-2015)Susan Falconer

Edinburgh SPBF, Green Hairstreak, Common Blue, Wood Sage Plume, Six-spot Burnet, Glyphipterix equitella

Richard BucklandGraham Checkley Mike Smith

Alastair Sommerville

West Lothian LBAP(2005-2009)

West Lothian Orange-tip, Common Blue, Sword-grass + 4 Micromoths

? Mark CubittRichard Buckland

Midlothian LBAP(2006-2010)

Midlothian Northern Brown Argus, Green Hairstreak, Common Blue, Orange-tip, SPBF, Large Heath, Small Heath + 3 micromoths

Richard BucklandGraham Checkley

Richard BucklandAlastair Sommerville

East Lothian LBAP(2008-2013)Stuart Macpherson

East Lothian Northern Brown Argus, 19 moths including Coast Dart, Sand Dart, Lunar Hornet Moth

Barry Prater – limited informal contact

Mark CubittRichard Buckland

Scottish Borders LBAP(date uncertain 2006?)Andy Tharme

Scottish Borders Small Blue, Northern Brown Argus, Common Blue, Grayling, Green hairstreak, Large Heath, Sword-grass, Dark Bordered Beauty

Barry Prater – Steering Group & Grasslands Group (neither currently active), Local Biodiversity Sites Steering Group

NE Scotland BRC Aberdeenshire + CNP + areas outside the branch

Helen Rowe + local VC Moth Recorders

Fife Nature Records Centre

Fife + Clacks Duncan Davidson

Perth Museum ? ? Cathy CaudwellDundee (McManus) Museum

? David Lampard Glyn Edwards

The Wildlife Information Centre (TWIC)

Lothians, Scottish Borders

Barry Prater + local VC Moth Recorders

Iain Cowe

Barry Prater 9 February 2016TWIC

Fife NRC

NESBReCMap from NBN website - there is currently no BRC for Angus & Perthshire areas.See also http://www.brisc.org.uk/Sources.php

Appendix 2 - Barry’s letter of Resignation.

Hello everyone At our last branch committee meeting I announced that I would be stepping back from some activities but would be willing to stay on as Branch Chair. Since then, after much more thought, I have decided to take this further and I will now be resigning fully as Branch Chair. I will be making this clear at the branch AGM and in the forthcoming branch newsletter, both of which are timed for April. I plan to continue in the role until the end of June 2016. Branches are encouraged by BC Head Office to have succession plans in place for such situations, but this can often be difficult to arrange. So perhaps the most important item for consideration at our February committee meeting is to discuss and decide what happens next and I would really like all committee members to contribute to our future branch plans. I expect to remain involved with things in the Borders, but there are plenty of my activities as Branch Chair and other practicalities which need to be addressed if the branch is to maintain its profile in Butterfly Conservation and the wider conservation community. One of the things which I have been aware of is that the role I have been playing is some combination of Chairman, Branch Organiser and Secretary and ideally we should attempt to share out the work involved to more than one person. There are also some things which I have been doing for BC which are not directly branch related. So in an attempt to structure our thinking, here is a rough breakdown, which may not be complete: Branch Chair

steering the branch and acting as overall branch spokesman having an overview of branch activities chairing branch committee meetings and AGM producing branch articles for Shona’s quarterly e-news and some of the branch newsletter articles presenting as necessary for the branch at Members Day and Recorders Gathering encouraging and developing work in collaboration with BC Scotland and other conservation groups developing and progressing branch activities towards achieving BC’s 2020 Vision objectives ensuring branch activities are in line with BC objectives and that branch-led monitoring & conservation work is steered by Regional

Action Plan working on the recruitment of replacement and new committee members being one of the branch financial signatories

Branch Organiser

acting as first point of contact for BC Scotland and BC Head Office seeking and collating a branch view on matters raised by BC or others direct contact with new members & other volunteers working to develop branch publicity – press, etc with Head Office arranging for branch presentations at Members Day etc putting together branch displays etc for meetings responsibility for branch H&S issues holding some branch assets – laptop projector, display boards, etc responding to enquiries through the branch website and Facebook page producing branch articles for Shona’s quarterly e-news and some of the branch newsletter articles working with LBAP groups to keep Lepidoptera interests prioritised keeping abreast of butterfly transect activity

Branch Secretary

arranging branch committee meetings and AGM preparing and circulating meeting minutes liaising with committee to ensure actions followed up

Other Activities

member of the Branch 2020 Action Group, which is consulted quite frequently and in some detail on BC developments which affect branches

corresponding representative for Scotland on BC’s Conservation Strategy Committee

recruiting and communicating with some of the MSP Species Champions having a shared leading role in the Angus Small Blue programme and as overall branch focus for Small Blue work

So – over to you to think about. In particular, please try to come up with some suggestions for people who could be approached to take on some of the roles outlined – who precisely does what is unimportant as long as things are maintained and developed. If you want to talk to me by phone that’s fine. And we mustn’t lose sight of our primary objective to help our butterflies and moths. Thanks Barry (message sent 21 January 2016)

Appendix 3 – AGM

East Scotland Branch AGM - Saturday 9th April 2016

Venue Mezzanine Room, City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, 25 Nicholson Square, Edinburgh EH8 9BX

Timing and Provisional Programme

10.30 Arrival, coffee & tea11.00 Annual General Meeting

Welcome and apologies for absence Minutes of previous AGM in 2013 (available on branch website) Chairman's address Treasurer's report Election of Officers Any Other Business

11.30 'Walking in a Small Blue Wonderland' (Iain Cowe, Borders Butterfly Recorder)12.00 Discussion12.15 Lunch break (you can bring your own or visit the excellent Well Café in the building)12.45 'State of UK's Butterflies 2015'

'Butterflies, Bees and Trees' (Apithanny Bourne, Youth Engagement Officer)13.30 'Excitement of the Moth Hunt' (Gerald Lincoln, Fife)14.00 Discussion & close of meeting

Note : At the AGM our Chairman/Branch organiser will be standing down and we are very keen to ensure continuity of the work of the Branch. If you would like to put yourself forward – or to nominate another member (with their agreement) to take on this role or to help the work of the committee in any other way – please let Barry Prater know as soon as possible. Also, feel free to contact him for more information on what might be involved when joining the committee.

The venue ( http://www.edinburghmethodist.com/ ) is situated about 1km south from Waverley Station; go along North Bridge, South Bridge and then Nicholson Street; a little way past the Festival Theatre you will see Nicholson Square on the right. The church is in the far left corner of the square and there is a car park next to it run by the nearby mosque. The car park costs around £7 for the day and the machine only takes coins so come prepared if you park here. Other Edinburgh parking places can be found here http://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/edinburgh/ . There is some very limited free parking just outside the church for people with mobility problems but this is only available on a first-come first-served basis.