Minutes of East Scotland Branch Committee Meeting

Minutes of East Scotland Branch Committee Meeting held on 9 September 2014 at the BC Offices in Stirling

Present: Barry Prater (Branch Chairman), Colin Whitehead (Branch Treasurer), Duncan Davidson (Butterfly Recorder, Fife Area Organiser), Helen Rowe (Aberdeen Area Organiser), Richard Buckland (Membership Secretary, Newsletter Editor, Lothians Area Organiser), David Lampard (Angus & Tayside Area Organiser),Paul Brooks, Cathy Caudwell, Barry Caudwell.

1. Welcome & Apologies Barry Prater welcomed everyone and was particularly pleased that Paul Brooks and Cathy & Barry Caudwell were able to attend. Although not formally committee members they were putting in a lot of effort to Perthshire and Angus activities. Barry Caudwell kindly volunteered to take notes during the meeting.

2. Declaration of Interests None were declared.

3. Approval of the minutes of previous meeting (1 April 2014) These were agreed to be a true record.

4. Matters arising not covered later  WCBS squares. Some people have dropped out of doing their squares so the website is not up to date. Richard has no way of knowing if someone has dropped out. Very valuable as an environmental indicator. There has been some funding in the past. Zoë Randle had flagged East Scotland branch as having done well on the WCBS front; for example a Large Heath colony was found during a WCBS survey. Action: 1. Richard to update website once 2014 data available from Zoë  Use of maps for priority species. Barry P had talked to Mark Cubitt about this and he thought that the Google maps on the website could be updated, but perhaps every 2-3 years. It was not known how much use people had made of these maps to guide their survey work and there was a suggestion that there could be a change of mapping base to make them more user friendly.

5. Committee developments  Branch Butterfly Recorder. Thanks were expressed to Duncan for all his work as Butterfly Recorder. In the future the task will be split into smaller areas and the current situation with volunteers to take things on is: . Fife - Duncan to continue. . Lothians and Clackmannanshire - Simon Metcalfe. . Borders - Iain Cowe. . Angus & Perthshire – Glyn Edwards. . Aberdeenshire & Banff - approaches have been made to NESBReC and Glenn Roberts the NESBReC manager is very happy for NESBReC to act as the initial repository for butterfly records. Verification would be carried out by a group of BC members (mostly the local VC Moth Recorders) and NESBReC would then forward the dataset to BC HQ as they already do for moth records from these areas. We may need to have a named BC person as part of the chain and assurance from NESBReC on data availability, but this is not thought to be a problem. All agreed that this has to be the best way forward as no individuals had come forward for these areas of the branch, although BC HQ has expressed reservations in the past. Actions: 2. Helen to talk further to NESBReC 3. Barry P to advise Paul Kirkland

There is a need for a clear map showing the division of the branch area for butterfly records, particularly in the northern part which is split between East and Highland branches and there is the issue of the Cairngorm area which is not all East Scotland, but NESBReC handle records from all of it. New recorders will mostly need guidance form Duncan on the details of the role and the methodology to be used; Duncan was happy to give this. Action: 4. Duncan to discuss requirements and methods with new recorders as necessary

 Events Coordinator Barry P had circulated a draft 'job description' for this role which was discussed. Currently events are arranged and put on website, etc. by the local organisers – coordinator could make things get done much more smoothly and could, for example, prevent two events happening nearby on the same day. Could also organise people for talks and for shows. Cathy offered to help in her locality and Daphne Macfarlane-Smith, who lives in Angus and helps out at Vane Farm, was suggested as someone who maybe could help too. Action: 5. Barry P to pursue after Members' Day The possibility of having a calendar of events was raised, to complement the area-based listing currently used. There was a discussion on how the branch website is updated from the BC website. Events currently disappear immediately after they have happened, which was not thought to be a good situation - it would make those looking for what went on finding apparently nothing during some periods of the year. Action: 6. Barry P to raise again with BC HQ website manager  Perthshire & Angus Barry P commented that there had been very good developments over the year as a result of the efforts from David, Paul, Cathy & Barry C.

 Branch structure The continuing issue of the size of the branch and how it is best run for members and BC was discussed again without any clear conclusions. Giving local area organisers more autonomy within the overall branch structure was thought to be potentially useful.

6. BC 2020 Vision Barry P reminded people that this was initiated some four years ago to increase BC membership and income stream. BC membership has continued to increase strongly over the last three years. Barry P is member of the Branch 2020 Action Group. Points discussed:  Meeting with Branch Support Officer (Susan Anders) on 20 September, Stirling. Susan can help BC HQ interact more effectively and efficiently with branches & vice versa. She can provide material for children and PowerPoint for talks etc.  National situation - update from Branch 2020 Action Group  The branch has already been acting on some of the 2020 guidance for branches. There has been progress with publicity, contact with new members (inc. events & questionnaire, which has recently been updated)  We need to ensure that all members are informed about the Members’ Day. Richard’s questionnaire needs to be followed up on questions such as “I want to get involved in a survey” - need to ensure that the contacts are subsequently made. There was a discussion on how to help new members gain confidence with butterfly & moth ID. Action: 7. Richard to circulate returned questionnaires to local area organisers

7. Members' Day  Branch talks. Barry P would introduce the session to be followed by talks from Hamish Johnston, Barbara P and Paul - each to talk on different subjects.  Branch display - this could include a map of the branch with indications of highlights and where help was needed with projects. Perhaps the branch website could be available on a laptop.  Branch Lunchtime Meeting - Barry P intended to use this to urge more members to become active and he would prepare outlines of where the branch could use more inputs. Actions: 8. All to send Barry P local highlights for talk & display board 9. Barry P & Richard to email branch members about Members' Day to encourage high turn-out, especially by new members.

8. Survey and Conservation Activities The following areas were discussed:  Progress with 2010-14 Butterfly Atlas - situation will become clear once all records have been received. Duncan announced that Fife had had its first Speckled Wood this year.  Moths Atlas - progress has been made with under-recorded moths squares e.g. recent visit to Coire Fee and other Angus squares. Duncan mentioned a very active group working on squares in Fife. Aberdeen is also making progress but it’s a big area with few people. South of the Forth, Mark Cubitt is organising several people in the Lothians and Borders moth-ers are targeting squares and making progress. So a good story all round.  Regional Action Plan (Priority Species) - examples of work are: . Northern Brown Argus sites in Perthshire - ongoing work. . Bog Squad for Large Heath. . Pearl-bordered Fritillary in Deeside ongoing. . Northern Dart, Small Chocolate Tip, Broad Bordered White Underwing all recorded in Borders.  Small Blue projects . Aberdeenshire - no news yet . Angus - new training session held for 25 people. No records N of Lunan Bay – it was a bad year for Kidney Vetch. Arbroath Cliffs are generating some good areas for KV to colonise. Friockheim site surveyed by Dundee Nats. - good site for KV but no Small Blues found. Glamis site needs following up - Paul Kirkland is discussing access to the site. Jon Cooke may be able to monitor the site. Riverside Nature Park in Dundee has potential for future developments. SWT Balgavies have been cutting down Sycamore which may help the KV. The Small Blue site at SWT Gailes Marsh – no news from it this year yet. . Berwickshire - known sites OK and further new sites at coast discovered – eggs and larvae found. Plus an additional inland site as well at an old quarry site. The Lamberton site has changed hands and new owner has been contacted. He is aware of the presence of the colony.  Peatlands project - the Bog Squad working with the FCS and volunteers have made good progress in the central belt. Stirling Council is actively interested in the Large Heath conservation project. Other councils are not so interested. Many sites have been surveyed this year and some new LH sites found.  Berwickshire Arable Wildlife Project (RSPB) - BC volunteers have been surveying sites for butterflies and the project is now in its second year.  possible BC reserve for Northern Brown Argus in the Borders - progress with this idea had been slow as there was a need to identify people willing to be involved and whether funding could be available to kick-start it. Richard volunteered to take it forward. Action: 10. Richard to develop ideas for potential sites

9. Review of 2014 Events Generally it was thought that events across the whole branch area had gone well, although the weather had intervened adversely for some. The attendance of some new branch members at some was encouraging. Paul reported that he hoped to repeat the Coire Fee moth event next year, exact time to be decided, probably earlier in the year. There was a discussion on the possibility of a public event at Coire Fee next year but there were questions as to how big an audience it would attract.

10. Branch finances  Current financial situation - £7500 in the bank with not much expenditure expected during rest of year.  Spending plans - Helen may need to replace 2 moth trap batteries but will probably delay until Spring 2015.

11. Future meetings No date decided but plan for Spring 2015, probably in Stirling.

12. Any other business None raised

Circulation: All those present, Mark Cubitt, Ellen Wilson, Trefor Woodford, Paul Kirkland, Diane Garland (BC HQ), Michael Johnston, Mark Young