Conservation group gives us hope for the future
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I ALWAYS considered myself privileged to have been the founder chairman of not only the Highland Biological Recording Group, but also the Highland Branch of Butterfly Conservation.
This had nothing to do with any knowledge I might have had as it was just a case of being in the right place at the right time.
Or was it the fact that nobody else wanted the post? It was with all this in mind that last Saturday I went to Inverness for the AGM of the Butterfly Conservation (Highland) Branch.
There was the usual interesting banter about butterflies, moths and other insect groups. Before the formal meeting started I was touched and felt honoured when the new chairman-to-be, Mark Wynn, asked me if I would make three presentations at the end of the meetings for photographs.
It has been interesting to reflect on the work of the Highland branch. It is one of the many branches throughout the UK of butterfly conservation.
Their main office is in Dorset with the Scottish branch in Stirling. Membership is £28 per year and this automatically means you are a member of the branch you choose.
A total of £6 of this goes annually to the Highland branch when you join. Go online to butterfly conservation and all the details are there.
In the beginning, the main aims and objects were centred around, as the name suggests, butterflies.
As for the Highlands, there was a subtle change of interest some years ago when dragonflies were taken up by some members.
I was very keen on the group at that time and led field meetings to such places as Glen Affric. Then for some reason moths became one of the main interests.
The changes under moths were quite dramatic as formerly they were scarcely ever mentioned in any of the butterfly conservation activities.
Now it is difficult to believe in those early days that there could now be specific moth recorders for every area of the Highlands, including the Islands.
One of the main speakers at the AGM in Inverness was Tom Prescott who talked about the current and planned activities of the Scottish branch on both butterflies and moths.
Tom is always a good speaker and very enthusiastic and the work of the butterfly conservation group in persuading farmers to manage their land sympathetically was very impressive.
One came away with a sense of some optimism for the future which is hard to find these days.
Over the years, butterfly conservation has had a few specific species to target such as the peacock and orange tip butterflies.
This year is no exception as it will be the speckled wood that is spreading northwards in the Highlands.
Then it was on to the presentation photographs and the one I was quite moved about was the one to the outgoing chairman, Jimmy McKellar.
The photograph was also very interesting as it was a splendid one of a chequered skipper. This must be my favourite butterfly and one that I studied for many years.
My first studies were in Northamptonshire many years ago and latterly in the colonies around Fort William. Jimmy has been the chairman for some 15 years and has been the pivot of the branch.
His own approach to chairmanship delighted and enthused very many people. His field trips ere always very popular as were his opening remarks and chairman’s report.
He will be a very difficult act to follow but the enthusiastic membership will help.
There were about 35 people at the AGM which gives an idea of the current success. What troubled me was, once again, the lack of youngsters there as there seemed to be none at all.
This is the same at other meetings I go to and include the AGM of the Highland Biological Recording Group I went to the week before.
This is very worrying as to where the future naturalists are coming from and what the affect of a lack of interest will be on the future of wildlife conservation in the Highlands and, for that matter, elsewhere.
