The Hel Peninsulais one of the most interestingplaces for Hamburgand Frankfurt, or via Warsaw(6-7 flightsWar- waterbirdsalong the coastof Polandin the non-breedingsea- saw-Gdanska day). In Warsaw,you can alsochange to son.Large flocks of waterfowland gulls occuron migration the expresstrain by taking a direct city busfrom the air- andin winter. The peninsulais alsoused as a leadingline by port to the main railway station.From Gdanskairport, migratingpasserines and birds of prey in springand autumn take the city bus (or taxi) to the railway stationand then and is well known as the best spotfor rarities in the whole continueby local train to Gdynia or directto Jurata.De- country.Species that have been recorded include Pallid Har- tailedinformation on planeconnections can be founde.g. rier Circus macrourus, Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni, on: http://www.lot.com.pl. Terek SandpiperXenus cinereus, Greater Yellowlegs Tringa by ferry - there are sailingsfrom Sweden(Nynashamn, melanoleuca,Richard's Pipit Anthusnovaeseelandiae and Karlskrona)to Gdanskor Gdynia,from Sweden(Malta6, Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni.Wet meadows and Ystad) andfrom Denmark(Copenhagen) to Swinoujscie sandybeaches provide excellentconditions for stopover in the westof Polandand then by trainto Gdynia.Details waders and, in 1983, this attracted the interest of studentsof of ferry connectionscan be found at: theUniversity of Gdansk.Wader ringing started then and has ß http://www.polferries.com.pl and sinceturned into a long-termstudy. Eventually this led to the ß http://www.stenaline.com.pl. establishmentof the Waterbird ResearchGroup KULING, by car - comingfrom any direction,go to the town of which is very pleasedto hostthe Annual Conferenceof the Wladyslawowoat thebase of Hel Peninsulaand then con- InternationalWader StudyGroup in its birthplace. tinuealong the only roadon the peninsulauntil you reach Jurata,where you will seethe conferencelogo. Conference location Talks and posters The Conferencewill be held at Jurata,a small holiday vil- lageon Hel Peninsulathat juts outinto the Baltic at the north- Talks will be given on Saturdayand Sundaymorning (5 & ern tip of Poland.The venueis a Military Holiday Complex 6 October)and a postersession is plannedfor the Saturday locatedat the end of the village in an old pine forest, with evening.Talks shouldnot exceed20 minutesincluding dis- viewsto both the Gulf of Gdanskand to the openwaters of cussion.Posters should not be larger than A0 format (70 cm the Baltic. The Annual Conferencewill take place on Satur- x 100 cm) hung vertically. During the evenings,some time day and Sunday(5-6 October),and on Monday 7 October will be availablefor a few shortinformal presentations,but two workshopswill be held;one on "ProjectTringa glareola the organisersshould be notified in advance.An overhead 2000" and the other on "Declining Populations". projector, slide projector and multimedia projector with laptop (PowerPoint) will be available for presentations. How to find the conference venue Thosewho wish to give a talk at the workshopon "Project Tringa glareola2000" or who wantmore information on that The conference venue is located ca. 80 km northwest of the workshop should contact Magdalena Remisiewicz at conurbationof Gdansk and Gdynia, beside the only road [email protected]. Thosewho are interestedin the work- alongthe Hel Peninsula.It canbe reachedfrom Gdyniaby shop"Declining populations" should contact Petra de Goeij local trainsand buses that depart about every two hours.The at [email protected]. bus station is located at the front of the railway station "Gdynia G16wnaOsobowa". Gdynia and Gdanskare well Excursions linkedby local trains(every 10 minutes),so travel to which- evercity is the mostconvenient. Options for travelto Gdynia The excursionwill takeplace on Sundayevening, 6 October. or Gdansk are: Buseswill take us to Hel harbour(an excellentplace for gull watching),a sealaquarium and to "Beka" naturereserve lo- by train- thereare a few directinternational connections cated by the Reda River mouth. The reserveis a mosaic of to Gdynia (e.g. from Berlin, Lviv, St Petersburg),or go salinecoastal meadows, rushes, reedbeds, and smallponds. via Warsawand then by expresstrain to Gdynia (almost Citrine wagtailsMotacilla citreola, Dunlins Calidris alpina every hour). You can plan your travel (including local shinzii and Red-breastedmergansers Mergus serrator breed trains)using e.g.: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de(Beware there.In October,it is a goodplace to seewaders and water- that time-tablesfor Polishtrains change on 1st June!) fowl. The mostnumerous should be Dunlin, Common Snipe by bus - internationalbus servicesare availablefrom Gallinago gallinago, GoldeneyeBucephala clangula and manycities of Europe(e.g. London, Paris, Brussels, Rot- TuftedDuck Aythyafuligula. Wellington boots are necessary terdam, Amsterdam, Aachen, K61n, Dusseldorf, Dort- equipmentfor the trip, and a waterproofcoat and hat are mund,Frankfurt a.M., Vilnius, Kaliningrad).Go directto recommended.In October, the weather in northern Poland is Gdanskand stopby the main railway station;some fin- variable.In someyears, October is warm and sunnywith a ish at Gdynia. meantemperature of 10-11øC, and a maximumdaily tem- by plane- thereare direct flights to Gdanskairport from peratureof over 20øC. In otheryears, days with minimum Bulletin 97 April 2002 Annual Conference 2002 3 temperatureas low as OøCoccur and the monthlymean is Agenda 7-8øC. Sometimesthere are stormsand heavyrain. We will do our bestto book a sunnyOctober, but pleasebe prepared 1. Apologies also for the worst weather scenario! 2. Minutes of the 2001 AGM 3. Chairman'sreport (HermannHotker) Organisation 4. (a) Treasurer'sreport (Bob Loos) (b) Auditor's report(Martin de Jong) The conferenceis organizedby WRG KULING and Dept. 5. MembershipOfficer's report(Rodney West) of VertebrateEcology & Zoology, University of Gdansk. 6. Editor's report (HumphreySitters) Further informationand applicationforms can be found at: 7. ProjectCo-ordinator's report (Ole Thorup) www.free.ngo.pl/kuling.If you have any questions,please 8. ConferenceCo-ordinator's report and future confer- contact:Magdalena Remisiewiczor Wlodzimierz Meissner ences(Petra de Goeij) at [email protected], Dept. of Vertebrate Ecology & 9. WSG-Wetlands InternationalLiaison Officer's report Zoology, University of Gdansk, AI. Legion6w 9, PL-80- - 2002 (David Stroud) 441 Gdansk, Poland, tel/fax: +48 58 341-20-16. 10. Subscriptionrates for 2003 (Bob Loos) 11. WSG Annual Meeting 2003 Notice of the 2002 Annual General Meeting of the 12. Election of Officers and other members of the Execu- International Wader Study Group tive Committee 13. Any other business The Annual General Meeting of the InternationalWader StudyGroup will be held at 09.00 hrs on Saturday5 October Rowena Langston, 2002 during the Annual Conference at Jurata, Hel, near General Secretary, Gdansk, Poland. Nominations for the election of Officers and Walnut Tree Farm, Hinderclay, othermembers of the ExecutiveCommittee may be madein Diss, Norfolk IP22 1HT, UK writing to the GeneralSecretary not lessthan 14 daysbefore e-mail: rlangston@ wntfarm. demon. co. uk the AGM. Eachnomination must be proposedand seconded by fully paid up membersand accompaniedby the nomi- nee' s written consent. Bulletin 97 April 2002 .