Protecting Otters in York Steering Group Meeting Minutes of the meeting 12th May, at The Swan, Bishopgate. Present: Liam O’Reilly Kevin Rich Jane Tavener Andy Brown Bob Missin 1) New meeting time/place This was discussed and everyone seemed happy to keep the meetings to 7pm every other Monday at The Swan. The only thing that would have been useful was to have the site file there. ACTION: Alison or Andy to arrange to bring site file to future meetings. 2) Otter talk this Saturday (17th) Generating more interest in the talk was discussed and the need to drum up more numbers via posters, Facebook group etc. For those who don't know how to find the venue at the university, meet Kevin, Lottie and Jake at Costcutter at 9:50 on Saturday. It was decided that before the talk began there should be a brief introduction from Liam about our steering group, greenprints application and what we are hoping to achieve. ACTION: Jane to add link to otter talk event on Facebook group, Liam to give introductory talk. 3) June 14th open day at New Earswick nature reserve We need ideas for our stall and people to man it - Lottie, Lena, Kevin and Jane have said they can do this. Leaflets and posters with information about otters and our group were discussed, we would probably generate our own posters but will hopefully be able to get some leaflets about otters from either the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust or Natural England. Also the stall could sell tea, coffee, cake etc. ACTION: Liam to look into obtaining leaflets, Lottie, Lena, Kevin, Jane to man stall. 4) Quiz night The quiz night has been confirmed for 6:30 on June 17th and the venue will be St. Nicholas Fields who have kindly let us use their room for free. However there are some issues of a health and safety/legal nature to do with selling food, alcohol etc. It was decided we would provide food but that we might have to come up with some way of getting around actually selling it, maybe selling a quiz ticket for £10 which included all food and drink. Also the type of food was discussed. ACTION: Lottie to contact Paul regarding any issues around selling food, drink, tickets on St. Nicks premises. 5) Greenprints Application The application is on track, the draft will be sent on the 16/06/08 and the final copy will be sent a week later. 6) Otter ramp & holts Bob has been looking at putting a ramp in for the otters in the city centre but again has come up against our old friend health and safety, as the ramp would be accessible to pedestrians. However he says there is no problems with the artificial holts and that Yorkshire Water and maybe the council will be able to fund them. ACTION: Liam to send figures to Bob to see if he and/or Yorkshire Water can cover costs of overheads. 7) Fish surveying This was originally decided to be too costly and complicated, however Kevin mentioned that Lottie has found a cheaper method which she will tell us about at the next meeting. Also Bob mentioned a man called Shaun Mcbinty from EA Fisheries who can give us information about fish stocks in the Foss. ACTION: Lottie to bring information about fish surveying to next meeting, Liam to contact Shaun Mcbinty. 8) Disused drains The drains by the Foss where we are planning to build the fencing will need checking to make sure that they are definitely disused, and also that they are not being used by otters. Liam said that he will be able to use a remote controlled device to do this, and also an electrical scanner to check the area for electrical cables. The next meeting is scheduled for 7.00pm on Monday 26th May at The Swan on Bishopgate.