Everyone is welcome at the AGM (including non-members), but to 
obtain free entry to the museum, you must have tickets in advance. Two 
tickets are included in the AGM programme and additional tickets are 
available free, from the Secretary, OSME, c/o The Lodge, Sandy, 
Bedfordshire SG 19 2DL, UK. Please enclose a stamped addressed envelop>e 
and allow at least 14 days for delivery. 
After the AGM, why not join OSME Council members, speakers and 
friends in the bar of the Norfolk Hotel, Harrington Street (opposite South 
Kensington Underground Station) for an informal drink and chat. The 
hotel serves a range of food. We look forward to seeing you there. 
OSME in Amsterdam, September 1990 
A group of eight Middle Eastern 'bird buffs' left England for overnight 
travel to the Netherlands for OSME's first participation in a Europ)ean 
event. Organised by the Dutch Ornithologists' Union (NOU) and 
incorporating the Foundation Working Group on International Wader 
and Waterfowl Research (WIWO), the event was to prove a success. 
Approximately 150 people from as far afield as Turkey, southern France 
and Denmark arrived at the University of Amsterdam to hear the day's 
speakers. 
The spirit and professionalism of the Dutch speakers, who talked in both 
Dutch and English, overcame technical problems with the projection 
equipment. Tom van der Have (NOU/WIWO) gave an informative and 
witty talk on 'the eastern Mediterranean wader project 1990 - crossroads 
of wader flyways'. This was a summary of research carried out in Egypt, 
Tunisia, Turkey, Greece and the Sea of Azov and Black Sea. His opening 
- The English may rule the waves, but the Dutch are good in mud - gave 
way to slides of WIWO teams, waist-deep, counting rather confused- 
looking waders in habitat more associated with hippopotamuses. 
Hans Shekkerman (Foundation for Ornithological Research in Egypt) 
followed with a presentation on Egyptian wetiand research during the 
winter and spring of 1 990. The activities involved 22 team members from 
six countries. They counted waterbirds, particularly waders, in selected 
areas, including trapping in the spring. They also paid regular visits to 
the markets of Port Said and Damietta to obtain information on hunting 
pressures. 
After a break, Alex Yurlov was warmly welcomed as the first Soviet 
speaker, his subject being 'migrating waders in the Middle East and their 
relation to eastern breeding sites in the Barabba Steppe, west of 
Novosibursk'. 
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