Over 70 people attended our Branch AGM at Puddletown Village Hall on March 23 and had a great time listening to the officers’ reports, enjoying Jeremy Thomas’ brilliant talk and networking over the usual wonderful selection of cakes.

Happy attendees at the AGM

Our Chair, Jane Smith, noted that last year we did more “wider countryside” recording than any other branch, and commended Nigel Spring’s work with disadvantaged people.

• See the full Chair’s Report.

Branch Treasurer, Allan Higgin, reported on the 2011/12 financial year, pointing out we have a five-year plan to finance work on our Butterfly Reserves, which is why we appeared to accumulate funds this year: they are planned spending for the next few years.

• See Treasurer’s Report and Accounts Summary.

The rest of the reports were available in written form:

• Records Report – Bill Shreeves showed we achieved records for 60 transect walks last year, totalling 93,683 butterflies of 45 species, including a Grizzled Skipper on Kinson Common, which is a species not recorded anywhere in this area previously.
• Garden Recording Report – Our garden records are collated by Adrian Neil, who described results from 109 gardens. The only area of Dorset not represented is around Ashmore and Sixpenny Handley.
• Membership Report – Robin George’s short report showed we now have 677 Branch members.
• Education Activities Report – Nigel Spring listed an impressive number of activities, many with children and young people.
• Website (etc) Report – Lyn Pullen reported on the website, our presence on Twitter and her gardening for wildlife blog. She showed how younger volunteers are being attracted via these new media.
• Conservation Report – A resume of the year’s conservation work from Richard Belding gave a taster of the huge amount of important work carried out.
• Information, Display and Sales Stall Report – Bridget de Whalley listed the many places to which the display/sales stall has been taken by our fantastic team of volunteers.