This Years AGM

In all well-founded organisations it is mandatory to hold an Annual General Meeting but they can be very boring occasions to sit through and consequently are often poorly attended. In the past ours have been no exception. However, Renee came up with a solution to this problem - this years ours was going to be held in the open air at the Cudmore Grove Reserve, East Mersea. The business side of it would be kept to the basic minimum, to be followed by a conducted tour of the Reserve by its Ranger, Mr Dougal Urquhart.

Dougal started off with an informed talk about the moths he had managed to trap the previous evening and members' cameras were put to good use. This was followed by a tour around the Reserve, stopping by the small cliffs to learn about the remains of animals that lived many centuries ago that have come to light in the mud/silt. Apparently these finds were of sufficient interest to the BBC that Matt Baker has been a couple of times to interview Dougal for future programmes. We were next told how the Reserve has been managing the flood meadows and of the many different birds that this has encouraged to visit the area. On the way we stopped off at a location that Dougal has prepared to encourage adders to take up residence/breed - there are already some adders in the Reserve but it is always welcome when Nature is given a helping hand. Finally we came to the badger hide that the Group erected adjacent to an artificial sett that we created for ten orphaned cubs about twenty years ago. And guess what happened next ? Nothing, absolutely nothing! Now isn't that just typical of our furry friends? In fairness to them they have always been late risers at this particular sett and there were rather alot of us so they obviously decided to wait until the coast was clear before starting their nightly rounds.

Thanks to Renee and Dougal the members who came had a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable couple of hours, I can honestly say it was the best AGM I have attended since we started over twenty two years ago. Make sure you don't miss the next one!