R&CEBG

8 December, 2010

Ross & Cromarty (East) Biodiversity Group

10am, Wednesday 8 December 2010

SNH Office, Dingwall

Draft Minute

Present: Rebecca O’Hara (Scottish Natural Heritage), Montserrat Auladell (Scottish Environment Protection Agency), Jenny Sleeman (BTCV & HEN), Steph Elliot (RSPB), Simon McKelvey (Cromarty Firth Fisheries Board), Martin Hind (Highland Council), Ian Collier (Forestry Commission), Hazel Bews (Rowantree Consultants),Janet Bromham(Highland Council)

1. Welcome & Apologies: Janetwelcomed everyone to the meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and agree a way forward for the Group. Janet said that members were finding it difficult to justify attending meetings in its current format, and that it was obvious the Group did not have the capacity to deliver more.

There were apologies fromAndrew Matheson (Brahan Estate),Gillian McKnight (ScottishAgriculturalCollege), Graeme Findlay (Forestry Commission) and Kenny Taylor (Group Chairman). Ian Collier had kindly come along in Graeme’s place.

2. Minute of last meeting: The minute of the last meeting held on Wednesday 26 Augustwas accepted as a true record. The action points were discussed as follows:

AP1 (Aug 10):Janet to write to Gillian McKnight to thank her for her input to the Group. Discharged

AP2 (Aug 10):Hazel to checkpossible sponsorship for a Highland Bumblebee Guide from an agricultural company. Update below

AP3 (Aug 10):Janet to contact Bob Dawson and get a copy of the Caithness Bumblebee leaflet and an idea of costs. Update below

AP4 (Aug 10): Hazel to draw up & circulate a list of biodiversity contacts, members to check & add to this list where appropriate. Discharged, see below

AP5 (Aug 10): Janet to pass on the Group’s thanks & support to Gina Bates & the children from SouthLodgePrimary School. Discharged

AP6 (Aug 10):Rebecca & Janet to investigate Council & SNH Gaelic Unit input to Nature Detectives project & associated web pages, links etc. Ongoing, update below

AP7 (Aug 10): Members to look at the draft Nature Detectives booklet and pass back their comments to Janet asap. Discharged

AP8 (Aug 10): Members to pass on their comments re Group vision & strategic aims to Hazel. None received, Agenda item

AP9 (Aug 10):Janet to find out when 2011 biodiversity week is & let members know. International Biodiversity Day: Sun 22 May 2011, Biodiversity Week not yet confirmed but it is usually the week before.

AP10 (Aug 10): Members to look for relevant images of people & wildlife for a postcard, and pass to Hazel. None received, Agenda item

AP11 (Aug 10): Meryl to circulate the details of her blog. Discharged

Updates:

Highland Bumblebee Guide (Aug 10 AP2 & 3): Hazel had spoken with Bob Dawson of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. He is happy to produce a Highland Bumblebee Guide & act as the lead partner to submit a funding bid for ~£5,000 to cover design, printing & distribution (Hazel will draw together the bid on their behalf, the Biodiversity Group cannot be the applicant as it does not have a constitution or bank account).

Bob has no time this financial year, so it is anticipated that the Guide will be produced once the funding is in place next financial year. Martin said that this would be too late as bumblebees can emerge as early as February, and asked whether there was anything he or the other members could do to help get the Guide printed earlier. AP1: Hazel will check with Bob to see if Biodiversity Group members can help toproduce the Highland Bumblebee Guide earlier.

Contact List(Aug 10 AP4): Members looked at the contact list and the following changes were suggested: MoOEG – replace Julia Christie with Mike ; Highland Red Squirrel Group – add on Juliet Robinson . Martin had some extra contacts. AP2: Members will go through the contact list and e-mail any changes or additions to Hazel by Christmas.

Nature Detectives (Aug 10 AP5, 6 & 7): Janet updated members on progress with the Nature Detectives Project. The booklets have been printed and the project will be launched at SouthLodgePrimary School before the Easter holidays. Six schools throughout Highland will trial the project next year, and the aim is that it will then be rolled out to all interested schools in due course. The advice from the Council’s Gaelic Unit was that putting Gaelic on the booklet would only confuse the message, but they are happy to translate it and help produce a Gaelic version, which will be available on Some of the Council Rangers have suggested additional topic pages (eg peatlands, seabirds) and these will be available on the website as downloadable inserts.

3. Group Vision & Strategic Aims: Janet suggested that the vision and strategic aims proposed at the last meeting by Hazel were too ambitious. This is highlighted by theloss of Gillian McKnight of SAC, and reduction of time available to attend quarterly meetings from Rebecca O’Hara of SNH, two important Group members. In addition, Janet has been asked to refocus her workload, which means that she will not be able to continue to support the Group to the same level.

Members agreed to change the Group’s name to the Easter Ross Biodiversity Group, and discussed the following vision for the Group:

“To raise awareness of biodiversity and help deliver the Ross & Cromarty (East) Biodiversity Action Plan.”

The following strategic aims were suggested:

  1. To raise awareness of the Ross & Cromarty (East) Biodiversity Action Plan and activities to deliver it.
  2. To encourage local people and groups to take action to deliver the Ross & Cromarty (East) Biodiversity Action Plan.
  3. To provide a forum to help people and groups share biodiversity-related information and expertise in Easter Ross and the Black Isle.

AP3: Members will pass any suggestions or amendments to this vision and aims to Hazel by Christmas. AP4: Hazel will circulate the agreed vision and aims by e-mail to members by 15 January.

4. 2011 Event: Members agreed to hold an annual event for a wider audience, the Easter Ross Biodiversity Forum, during biodiversity week to raise awareness and help share information and ideas.

This event will be publicised and open to the general public, but representatives from local groups with an interest in biodiversity (the contact list) will be invited to attend and if they wish, give a short presentation on a biodiversity-related project.

AP5: Janet will e-mail the people on the contact list to introduce the Easter Ross Biodiversity Group and the Forum event planned for May, and to invite them to come along and give a presentation on a biodiversity-related project they are working on or have recently completed. She will wait until the Group’s vision & aims are agreed, and the website is updated (February 2011).

Agency representatives and partner organisations will be invited to attend and put up poster presentations or stands to show how local projects feed into the big projects and initiatives we are working on (such as the Water Framework Directive or national recording schemes).

Meryl had offered to organise a ‘Bio Blitz’ event, and it was thought this could be linked to the Forum, although members agreed that the two should not be on the same day. Strathpeffer was picked because the school is looking to do a project in its grounds, and it was thought that it could be a good location for a Bio Blitz. Also, the Blackwater Environmental Group is a very active and enthusiastic group, and it was thought that the first Forum event should focus on projects such as these.

AP6: Hazel will book the Strathpeffer Community Centre for an evening event on Thursday 19 May 2011 (7-9.30pm).

AP7: Simon will speak with Meryl Norris and ask her to organise a Bio Blitz event on Saturday 21 May 2011. If Meryl is agreeable to this, Hazel will help with the organisation and promotion of the Bio Blitz.

AP8: Ian will speak with Juliet Robinson and staff within Forestry Commission about how they can input to the Forum and the Bio Blitz.

AP9: Janet will contact Kenny and ask whether he would be willing to chair / provide a keynote address on wildlife to see in Easter Ross, or if he has any other suggestions for local ‘celebrities’ who could draw in the crowds.

5. November Meeting:Simon suggested that in addition, the current Group ought to meet once a year to go through the Ross & Cromarty (East) Biodiversity Action Plan, identify projects that partners have undertaken or are working on to help deliver it, highlight any gaps and update the priorities. If this meeting were to be in early winter, it could identify a list of events to promote or projects for members to deliver as part of their forthcoming year’s work programme.

Members agreed to hold an annual meeting of the smaller Easter Ross Biodiversity Group (formerly Ross & Cromarty (East) Biodiversity Group) every November. The first meeting will be on 2 November 2011, at 10am in the Council Buildings, Dingwall. AP10: Martin will book a room in the Council Buildings, Janet will bring along tea, coffee, etc.

Jenny reminded everyone that HEN have a very accessible website that people can use to help publicise their events or projects, and Martin said that the HEN Directory is also very useful in this regard.

Rebecca asked whether the capacity building money could be used to run additional training courses for local communities, and it was agreed to canvass views on what training people would be interested in, and where, at the Forum event in May.

Simon saw a key role of the Group as to draw people into national recording initiatives and citizen science-type projects, for example:

  • The Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society’s Shorewatch project is a great example of how local people can get involved, and there is an officer at SpeyBay.
  • Juliet Robinson of the Highland Red Squirrel Project can offer free training in surveying for squirrels. The project aims to identify lead volunteers to organise recording in that area, so that when the project comes to a close in 2012, there is a network of squirrel recorders & volunteers that will continue to monitor and undertake recording projects.

5. Promotional Materials: Members agreed to use the capacity building funds to produce a pop-up banner, postcard and web page to help publicise the Group and the LBAP.

Pop-Up Banner: It was agreed to produce a banner with one large iconic photo and 4 or 5 smaller images, each depicting well known wildlife in the area. The banner will also have the footprints logo (perhaps as a watermark) and website address, but will have no text.

Postcard: It was agreed to produce a postcard along very much the same lines as the banner, perhaps with a line of text on the back promoting the LBAP and the website.

Possible images for the banner and postcard are: red squirrel, bottlenosed dolphin, red kite, great-crested newt, peacock butterfly, cornflower / wildflowers, children / people looking at wildlife or doing a project and nice picture of a recognisable local landscape (eg Ben Wyvis, Cromarty Firth, Tarbat Ness, Monadh Mor).

AP11: Members will look through their collections / photo libraries and e-mail small resolution versions to Hazel (the final images will need to be high resolution, but small res will not block up the e-mail!)

AP12: Hazel will work up a specification for the banner and postcard, and circulate a final draft to members by March.

Web Page: Hazel had drafted some text for a Ross & Cromarty (East) web page on the Highland Biodiversity website AP13: Hazel will amend the text to reflect the meeting’s discussion and circulate the new draft text to members and Murdo Macdonald by Christmas. We will aim to get this on the website by the end of January.

6. AOCB: Janet said that the Communities Project for Highland Biodiversity had won a Highland Council Quality Award, thanks to all who took part in this project.

Date of Next Meeting:

  • Easter Ross Biodiversity Forum: Thursday 19 May, 7-9.30pm, Strathpeffer Community Centre
  • Strathpeffer Bio Blitz: Saturday 21 May (to be confirmed – Meryl Norris)
  • Easter Ross Biodiversity Group: Wednesday 2 November, Dingwall

Janet thanked all members who have supported the Group over the years, she hoped that we will be able to deliver more through the new format agreed at this meeting.

Janet Bromham

9 December 2010