Berwick Wildlife Group

Present: Fiona Aungier, John Rae, Molly Hardie, John Ingles, Enid Turnbull, M. Williams.

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.	FA read a draft of a letter re. the felled whitebeams to be sent to the local Planning Officer. Approved. FA discussed with committee which sites should be included in a list of those most important for wildlife conservation prior to publishing same on the web.
3	Green Festival.	Sun 29th July, 5 Arches Playing Field, 11.00am to 6.00pm. Rota for set up, manning stand, clearing away. Also stuff – e.g. trestle tables, chairs, display itself, handouts etc?	Sun 29th July, 5 Arches Playing Field, 11.00am to 6.00pm. FA informed committee of parking arrangements. Rota for staffing the BWG stand is as follows: 9-11am inc. set-up FA. JI, 11-1pm ET. JI, 1-3pm MW, 3-5pm LC(?) FA, 5-6pm FA. ET take down. JR to supply tables, FA to provide seats, JI to bring photos, JR display of beach litter.
4	Recent/forthcoming events.	Outdoor meetings. Fenton Centre; Cocklawburn Beach; (no butterflies) Bumblebee Identification with Shaun Hackett, Stanton Gardens (NZ131 896) 22/06/08 10.00. Bats, Spittal Prom, 26/06/08, 22.00; Dock Road 10/07/08, 22.00. Butterflies, Cocklawburn, with Jaci Beaven, 13/07/08 10.30. Tree Survey Ord Drive, 7.00pm, Wed. 9th July and Tues 15th July.	Outdoor meetings. Fenton Centre. Excellent tour of sustainable farming, flood management and wildlife conservation practices. Good attendance. Cocklawburn Beach. Very good and informative meeting, but unfortunate lack of butterflies. Butterfly walk with M Hutcheson was unfortunately rained off. Bumblebee Identification with Shaun Hackett, Stanton Gardens (NZ131 896) 22/06/08 10.00. Posters are ready for distribution. Bats, Spittal Prom, 26/06/08, 22.00; Dock Road 10/07/08, 22.00. Butterflies, Cocklawburn, with Jaci Beaven, 13/07/08 10.30. Posters are needed. Tree Survey Ord Drive, 7.00pm, Wed. 9th July and Tues 15th July.
5	Surveys	Squirrels; Butterfly Transects; "Other" insects (1 hr. July); Photos Cocklawburn, Bats.	Squirrels. 2008 task list has been received from Mark Wilkinson namely as 2007 plus St. Cuthbert’s Cave and along the Till. Marshall Meadows woodland has been surveyed, no squirrels seen. Middle Ord is to be surveyed. Butterflies. T the M going well. Two seen at Cocklawburn last week but only one in transect. Other Insects. Only one survey needed, anywhere, in July. Cocklawburn Dunes. FA reported latest batch of photos completed. Bats. A poor season so far, possibly due to cold weather. Buttercups. ET and M Hardy to survey for creeping variety with more than five petals as an aid to determining age of pasture. Sally Rae may be willing to help. FA to notify date. Trees. Forms have arrived from Forestry Commission. Ord Drive to be surveyed. Birds. JI reported it had been a good year for fledglings.
6	Data	Holding – in Excel spreadsheets?Providing – to EYE and SBBRC – progress.	FA/JR to work on Excel spreadsheets for recording when time permits after the busy summer season, JR was thanked for sterling work on data with the help of FA and M Hardy.
7	Publicity	Borderevents – pay£10.00? Ditto Andrew/Lorna's site?	Both Border Events and Andrew/Lorna’s site to be paid £10 annual membership fee. FA requested photos for website posting. ET reported a good income from events.
8	Grants	Three Rivers Housing - tree tapes and bat detectors?	Three Rivers Housing phoned FA enquiring if BWG wanted a grant and was told that bat detectors and girthing tapes needed. FA has written to find out more about the organisation’s background and work and to request a talk with the director.
9	Membership	How many have rejoined?	Et – memberships are down by 17 on last year.
10	Any Other Business	.	ET reported sightings of jet skiers on the river on Sunday. There have been reports of problems with footpath beside the river. JI stated that a digger had dumped earth along riverbank causing drainage problems but that Andrew Ayre had relaid the path which was now alright. JI has contacted Bill Bradley, Rights of Way Officer for NCC who will pass on the info. to interested parties. I requested info. from members re. overgrown footpaths so that NCC can be notified.
11	Date/venue of next Meeting	Wednesday 16th July, then 20th August.	.