Minutes of the 9^th meeting of SIG held at 7.30 p.m. 18^th February 2002 at Coutts House 

Present: D Skingsley (Secretary), C Slawson (Records Compiler), J Stanney, T Beynon, M Smart, R Gillibrand., N Collingwood, S. Phipps

Apologies: H Ball, E Brown, J. Webb, M Webb, T Colshaw, R Tribbeck, M Waterhouse, S McWilliams, M. Bloxham, A. Pullin

1) Minutes of the previous meeting were presented and accepted as a true record of events

2) Matters arising from the previous minutes

• The Staffordshire Invertebrate Web Chat Room is still available, and interested parties are encouraged to submit questions, thought, and observations to stimulate debate amongst the members.
• The report on Cotton Dell has not been finalised and the secretary was asked to follow this up with H Ball.
• The position of Chair is still vacant. The Secretary and Records Compiler are temporarily filling this role.
• All invertebrate records should go to the Staffordshire Ecological Record (Email: info@staffs-ecology.org.uk) first and then these can be sent to the County Recorders for confirmation.

• A comprehensive report was presented by CS. Notable in the report was a list of SWT reserves and the Invertebrate groups covered for 27 of the main reserves. This was later used in discussions over the SIG 2002 HOT SPOT. Also notable was the fact that invertebrate records represent 1/6th of the total records on the Staffordshire Ecological Record (SER) database. Link to Staffordshire Ecological Record
• The NBN gateway is nearing completion and the SER data, from SOTES, SWT reserves and The Potteries Museum Mollusc Collection, has been submitted to this database. This should allow searching of this data for sites specific to Staffordshire.
• The City Museum Hanley has a back catalogue of paper records for Diptera and Coleoptera that may be computerised and made available to SER (and therefore SIG) following the appointment of a 2 year post at the museum to look at the availability of records for conservation use.
• The Aculeate check list and a provisional atlas is in final draft form and was made available for the members to view at the meeting. Members expressed a wish to see a series of similar publication derived from SIG members involvement as part of our remit to make available information on invertebrates to the public.

• Primary Focus on 2 sites Black Firs in the North, and Loynton Moss in the West, of the County
• Secondary sites of interest are Black Brook, Oakwood (Needwood Forest), Jackson's Coppice and Marsh
• Wolseley Garden Park was suggested for 2003 to general approval

• Providing that SiG can obtain a moth trap (CS investigating possible sources), we will be holding a Moth Trapping event to coincide with National Event to be held on June 15^th 2002. Liaison with Dave Emley is a priority to ensure we do not overlap with the Lepidopterist Groups plans.
• Licenses for collecting by SIG on SWT reserves will be available following approval  from Helen Gee.
• TB outlined 3 walks on Chartley Moss looking a Odonata to which members were welcome. (Contact the secretary for more information)
• Don Steward of the City Museum Hanley, has kindly offered space in the Natural History Gallery to advertise SIG. The Secretary is looking into the production of a poster for this purpose.
• Jon Webb (ex Chair) is leaving Staffordshire to take up a post with English Nature in Peterborough. The SIG wish him all the best for the future, and hope he keeps coming back to Staffordshire and recording when he does !