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1998 WADER STUDY GROUP morning.On Saturdaynight, we timetablewill be suppliedat the time of booking.Participants of theConference ANNUAL GENERAL guaranteethat the surprise event will meanyou never forget the Hungarians are recommendedto leaveBudapest by MEETING, KESZTHELY, and theft excellent wines. An excursion trainrather than by bus(it is toolong a HUNGARY is alsoplanned to theKis (Little) journey)! Balaton,a hugewetland some distance BirdLife Hungary/Hungarian from Lake B alaton. The excursionwill By car Wetland Foundation warmly invite all beginafter lunch on Sunday.On FromBudapest the best way to reach the WSG members to the 1998 AGM Monday,a workshopwill beheld, which Keszthelyis usingthe M7 motorway whichwill take placefrom Friday 16 will follow on from the Population whichruns along the southernside of Octoberto Sunday18 October,with Estimatesworkshop held in Belgiumin Lake Balaton.The motorwaychanges an extra workshopday on Monday 19 1996. into main road from Zamardi (number Octoberfollowing up the Population 70). Driving on thisroad it is easyto Estimatesworkshop held in Denmark Theeasiest ways to reachKeszthely, reachKeszthely. It is alsoeasy to reach lastyear (see below for details). Hungaryare asfollows: the conferencetown from Hegyeshalom (theAustrian/Hungarian border) driving Themeeting will be heldat theHotel By plane on the Motorway M 1 via Gyor, Papa, Helikon,in thelovely town of You canreach Budapest by planefrom Celldomolk,and Tapolca. Keszthely,at the very edge of Lake everycountry of theworld. Keszthely is Balaton,West Hungary. Both the 200 km to the west of Budapestand very An updatedtimetable for trains,maps, conferenceand the accommodationwill easyto getto bytrain, bus or car.From anda full programmeof theConference be in this hotel. Participantsare Ferihegy,one or twoaftport minibuses will be sentto thoseplanning to attend recommendedto arrive duringFriday wait for air passengersto transport them on receiptof a completedbooking form. afternoonor earlyevening for dinner. to the city. Fromthe cityyou haveto Pleasereturn your booking forms to Dinner will be served from 18.00 to find thered underground(metro) line GyorgySzimuly, H-2890 TATA, 22.00,but late arrivals can have cold number2 to Deli-palyaudvar(Southern Vertesszolosiut 7, Hungary.To book food, mrved in their rooms. Railway Station). via E-mail, contactGyorgy at the followingaddress: andika@elender. hu, The AnnualGeneral Meeting will start By train andhe will supplya bookingform as a at 09.00 on Saturday17 Octoberand FromDeli-palyaudvar, Budapest it is Word 6.0 *.doc file. Any further will be followedby talksuntil dinner, veryeasy to getto Keszthelyon train information on the Conference is with breaks for coffee and lunch. line number 30. The timetable will availablefrom GyorgySzimuly. Furthertalks will takeplace on Sunday changein May,but an up-to-date Proposedwader populations We now hopeto hold a follow-up We intendthat the workshopwould workshop for 1998 WSG Conference workshopto the 1996 workshop,on involve the national wader count co- Monday 19 October1998 at theWSG ordinatorsnetwork, wader species One of WSG's responsibilitiesin acting annualconference in Keszethely, experts,wader database managers and as a SpecialistGroup for Wetlands Hungary.Details of theworkshop are thosewith wadersurvey data for African Internationalis to provideexpert now beingplanned, but theworkshop coastalwetlands, and will be opento all guidanceon waderpopulation sizes and would aim to: participantsin the WSG conference. trends. These are included in a three- yearlyupdate of globalwaterfowl ß testthe capacityof the restructured We will be contactingthe key potential populationsused in implementingthe WaderDatabase to produce participantsshortly with more Ramsar Convention and Bonn populationsize andtrend estimates; information. Full details of the Convention African-Eurasian Waterbird ß updateand confirm new sizeand workshopwill be includedin theAugust Agreement.New estimatesare dueby trendestimates for EuropeanEast WSG Bulletin, and will be sent to all the end of 1998. AtlanticFlyway populations,from thoseregistering for theWSG boththe 'nationaltotals' approach conference. WSG made an excellent start in usedin the 1996 workshopand preparingsome new population indexingoutputs from the wader Nick Davidson & David Stroud estimatesat its 1996 workshopin database; Belgium. Completionof thesewas ß compilenew estimatesfor African deferredpending the restructuring of the EastAtlantic Flyway populations, Wetlands International Wader Counts drawingon recentsurveys of major Databaseand the possibledevelopment coastal wetlands; of a wader flyway atlas,within which ß assessto what extent, and when, populationupdates would be included. populationestimates for Black Sea/ Full implementationof the waderatlas Mediterranean/E.Africa populations, projectis now delayed,but the planned andinland populations might be workshopwill contributeto the atlas attempted. process.

1997 WSG MEETING: their continuedstatus as legal quarry agreedby the ORNIS Committee ABSTRACTS OF TALKS underEU law. Suchmanagement action ScientificWorking Group in November planswould directlyassess the scientific 1996. However,the plansthemselves Drafting of European Commission informationavailable on thesespecies, will needto be basedupon the collective Management Action Plans for particularlyin relationto huntingand wisdom of the wader research Redshank, Curlew, Black-tailed conservationmanagement. The plans community,and will dependvery Godwit and Jack Snipe will primarilyidentify priority measures heavily on extensiveconsultation with for conservation action to restore these theWader Study Group and networks of TonyFox, Departmentof CoastalZone particularspecies to favourable expertcontacts with a soundworking Ecology, National Environmental conservation status. knowledgeof eachof the species ResearchInstitute, KalO, Gren•vej 12, concernedfrom throughoutthe Member DK-8410 ROnde, Denmark. At a meetingheld at theEuropean States. Informationfrom the existing Commissionin February1997, it was review will form the basis for the In 1996, the EuropeanCommission decidedthat the processwould be taken analysis,but extensiveliterature reviews (DGXI) initiated a review of the status, forwardby two MemberStates, namely and consultation with NGOs, distributionand abundanceof migratory the National Environmental Research governmentagencies and experts birds speciesof unfavourable Institute (NERI), Denmark and the throughoutthe flyways will be necessary conservationstatus which are presently Office National de la Chasse(ONC), to draft the final managementplans. The listed on Annex II of the Council France. NERI proposesto develop first stepwill be to focusparticular Directive 79/409/EEC (and are therefore plansfor PintailAnas acuta, Jack Snipe emphasisupon these four wader species huntablein EU Member States). The Lymnocryptesminimus, Curlew at theBreeding Waders in Europe 2000 review exercise included an assessment Numeniusarquata, RedshankTringa workshopsimply to establishthe latest of huntingpressure and conservation totanus and Black-tailed Godwit Limosa informationon populationestimates, actions and, as a result, the ORNIS limosa,whilst ONC will developplans nationaland population trends, habitat Committee (which includes for GarganeyAnas quequedula, useand site networks for thesespecies. representativesfrom all Member States) WoodcockScolopax rusticola, Turtle A more detailedworkshop to provide selectednine key specieswhich were Dove Streptopeliaturtur and Skylark technicalinput to the developmentof the recognisedas requiring management Alauda arvensis. planswill probablybe held towardsthe plansas a matterof urgencybecause of end of the year. the inconsistencybetween their The managementaction plans for each unfavourable conservation status and specieswill follow the formatalready