Berwick Wildlife Group

Present: : Fiona Aungier, Molly Hardie, John Inglis, Elizabeth Martin Fisher, John Rae, Enid Turnbull, M. Williams, Gill Young.

Apologies:. Leslie Cook, Malcolm Hutcheson.

Items	Subject	Decisions to Make	Outcome
1	Minutes of last meeting	Agreed?	Agreed.
2	Matters arising not below	Discuss briefly.	None.
3	Royal Border Bridge	Letter to Network Rail and Amco: sent	FA’s letter sent to Network Rail and Amco re. house martins & bats around the bridge was read out to committee. Witcher Wildlife has not responded to BWG communications.
4	Swifts in Tweedmouth	Um....	Action pending.
5	Lords Mount	Proposal by English Heritage to landscape the rough area between Lords Mount and Fields House above which bats feed. LC has written letter (sent, to avoid post strike).	Reported proposal by English Heritage to landscape the rough area between Lords Mount and Fields House above which bats feed. LC has written letter (sent, to avoid post strike) which was read to committee. BWG agreed that small trees may need removing, but that grass should not be cut short.
6	Recent events and surveys.	Seashore outing with Jenny Prince, 19th Sept. – thank you, Jenny. Beachwatch, 20th Sept. This was well attended. Small Mammals Week at Cocklawburn and Tommy the Millers. An excellent week, good catches, (some) refinement of technique. To be continued immediately as part of national survey, and in the spring also? Geology at Cocklawburn, 11th Oct. Thank you, Ian. Early Migrants walk at Little Beach 24th Oct. Posters up. Anything else needed? First winter talk (Aisling Lannin,11th November). Room? Chairs? Tea? Etc. Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) survey of lichens. Need to arrange time(s). "Harvest Mouse" survey. Actually all small mammals, Oct and Nov.	Seashore outing with Jenny Prince, 19th Sept. – was very interesting and enjoyable. Thank you, Jenny. Beachwatch, 20th Sept. This was well attended. Small Mammals Week at Cocklawburn and Tommy the Millers. An excellent week, good catches, further refinement of technique needed. To be continued immediately as part of national survey, and in the spring. Thanks to JR Geology at Cocklawburn, 11th Oct. Excellent outing. Thank you, Ian. M Hardie wrote letter of thanks. Early Migrants walk at Little Beach 24th Oct. approx 2.5hrs Posters are up. M Hardie left one at Garden Centre, but no room at time to display. M Hutcheson & JI to lead. First winter talk on Marine Pollution (Aisling Lannin,11th November). Room – LC to open at 6.45pm, committee to help; ET on catering. FA/M Hardie posters. Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) survey of lichens. FA has received recording packs. GY taken one for her area. "Harvest Mouse" survey. Actually all small mammals, Oct to end of Nov. and into next year, for several years preferably. JR to look into requirements.
8	Surveys and Records	Butterflies; Bats; Small Mammals; Grasslands; Cocklawburn; Wagtails. What else?Reports. Records for EYE. What needs more work next year? Or new projects?	Butterfly transects. M McNeeley has given BWG complete set of his Cocklawburn butterfly records; all butterfly transect data now with JR to send to Butterfly Conservation. Casual butterfly sightings (except M Hutcheson's) to go to EYE (FA to sort out). Wagtails. Full report not needed this year, but graphs to be updated and send details to EYE. Thank you, Philomena. Bats – LC to do report. Also need grid refs for individual sightings to send to EYE. Mosses & Lichens – FA to check if records of Janet Simkin's finds at Cockalwburn have been sent to EYE. JR to get bird & butterfly counts from M Hutcheson. Whin Sill grasslands. Further work required. FA to produce report on work to date. Seashore surveys with Jenny, species lists all complete. JR to collate all above data and send to EYE as appropriate. These are in process of completion.
8	Any other business	.	JI reported cars still parking on grass at Little Beach despite notices. A Ayre has planted field with wild bird/insect mix & has got vast numbers of butterflies; JI to ask if BWG could survey next year. Northumberland Mammal Groupwant everyone to send in sightings of all mammals seen over two year period starting now. JR to collect our sightings. Notice to go in BWG Newsletter. New Projects. JR – Reptiles at Cocklawburn. Seashore survey with Jenny Prince, possibly Little & Berwick beaches on 2-3 occasions during the year. Peter Maule is knowledgeable on seaweeds.
9	Date/venue of next Meeting	18th November, 7.00 pm, Castle. Then January 2010?, need to book venue.	.