Annual General Meeting

Annual General Meeting 13th September 2003 Chairman's Report for 2003 by Rob Parker

The Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation

was formed ten years ago next month, and in our

first decade we have achieved a great deal. Presently you will hear from individual committee members describing the activities of a Branch that is financially healthy, benefits members with an excellent programme of field visits, and with the "Suffolk Argus", a first-rate newsletter. More importantly for butterflies, we

are hard at work influencing landowners seeking to improve the habitat in farmland

margins as well as gardens and privately owned conservation areas. This will benefit our common

butterflies and moths in the wider countryside in

parallel with our efforts to understand the needs of our Biodiversity Action Plan species.

This year, our hard working team has been joined by Sharon Hearle, Butterfly Conservation's Regional Officer for the East of England; and I am pleased to tell you that she has already been active spotting Dingy Skippers, tracking down colonies of White-letter Hairstreak and counting Silverstudded Blues, as well as in administrative roles such as making conservation inputs to the management plans for Local Nature Reserves, and in improving the co-operation with Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex Branches. Sharon has also started a transect on the Devil's Dyke. Technically it is in Cambridgeshire, but the butterflies do not know that, and I see it as an extra finger on the pulse at the county boundary. Another new transect has been started at Cavenham Heath by the English Nature warden, and I have identified several farms that could host useful transects - if only we had a few volunteers ready to walk them regularly. You will remember all the endeavour that Julian Dowding put into the Buckthorn for Brimstones planting three years ago. I am pleased to report that this year we were able to observe a notable development, with Brimstones not only appearing in Holywells Park, but also breeding there. Let us hope that they will become properly established around Ipswich, and even more widely across the east of the county. Another notable achievement by a Branch member, was the publication of Doug Hammersley's book: "A Butterfly Notebook"- it is a delightful collection of superb illustrations, and I urge you to take the opportunity to look at it later during the coffee break. The number of events we run in collaboration with other organisations seems to be on the increase. Our regular event for Thornham Walks was more elaborate and more successful than usual, we took moth and butterfly walks for the RSPB, and again spoke at a FWAG walk. The Suffolk Wildlife Trust has used our expertise at evening lectures and • butterfly walks and plans a more elaborate programme next year. Let me take this moment to thank all those who have taken part in any of our events, and particularly to the committee members, who bear almost the entire load. In another collaborative venture, two of us guided parties from the British Entomological & Natural History Society around the SSS! at RAF Barnham - a site with Lunar Yellow Underwings as well as Dingy Skippers. After the Chairman's Report the following reports were presented by the committee member responsible: Moth Conservation Officer's Report Butterfly Conservation Officer's Report Membership Secretary's Report Editor, Suffolk Argus Report Treasurer's Report. (The Accounts are published on the following page.) Programme Secretary's Report

The Committee, as listed on the back cover, was then elected. With the formal business having concluded The Chairman invited Sharon Hearle to give the meeting a resume on her first period in office as Eastern Region Officer. This was followed by member's slides and a 'Moth Evening'.