EURING General Assembly - Hungary 2024

The meeting will be held in Hungary, at the city of Tata, on 5-8 November 2024. The meeting takes place in the city, next to the Old Lake (Öreg-tó), which is an important and spectacular migration site for waterfowl. The Tata lakes have been listed under the Ramsar Convention since 1989. One of the lakes, the "Öreg-tó” (“Old lake”), is an artificial lake created in the centre of the old town of Tata during the Middle Ages. At the beginning of November the geese are just arriving at the lake system, but even in this period we will enjoy a beautiful view.

Tata from a bird's eye view:

Geese at Old Lake in December:

The Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (Hungarian: “Magyar Madártani és Természetvédelmi Egyesület”,MME), also known as BirdLife Hungary, is a non-profit ornithological and nature conservation organisation, founded in Hungary in 1974. Its mission is to protect wild birds and help preserve biodiversity. MME (BirdLife Hungary) is 50 years old this year, so it is an important year for us. That is why we offered to organize the 2024 EURING General Assembly. Although there have already been two EURING General Meetings in Hungary (in Visegrád in 1990 and in Fertőújlak in 2007), we are very pleased to be able to invite all those running EURING schemes to Tata, the city of geese, in the autumn of 2024.

The programme and papers for the General Meeting will be available in the members area of EURING website. Once you are in the members area please select General Meetings. Here you will also find information about on-line access for those who are unable to attend in person. If you work within a EURING Scheme and do not know how to access the members area please contact the General Secretary, Juan Arizaga, or any member of the EURING Board. Those requiring printed copies of the programme and papers are asked to print them before travelling, as hard copies will not generally be available at the meeting.

Registration and arrival

To register click here: https://mme.hu/registration_for_euring_2024

The deadline for registration is 31 August 2024

We ask delegates to arrive at the residence by the afternoon of Tuesday 5th November. The welcome dinner will be held that evening. Board members will have board meetings on Tuesday November 5th and Friday November 8th, and their arrival and departure arrangements will be agreed individually.

Location

Tata is located about 70 kms from the Hungarian capital city, Budapest.

Accomodation and conference rooms

This will be at the Tata, Öreg-tó Hotel and Event Center (“Old Lake Hotel’). A map of the location is available here.

The Hotel is about 2 minutes away from the Lake Old. All the events of the conference (board meetings, plenary meetings, meals) will be held here. Some participants, mainly the Hungarian team, will be accommodated in a nearby apartment hotel around 200 metres away.

Costs and payment

One-bed room (limited quantity): 450EUR

Two-bed room: 375 EUR

Excursion: 10 EUR

Board members: +50 EUR

Extra hotel night with breakfast and a main meal (Nov. 4 or Nov. 8): +75 EUR/night

The registration fee must be transferred to BirdLife Hungary. After your registration, our colleague will contact you at the e-mail address provided and send you the details after consultation.

Travel to the meeting

Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9DY9aK29YTPc39fH9

For those wishing to travel by air the nearest international airports are: Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava. Tata can be reached by train or bus from these cities. The small town where the meeting will be held does not have an airport.

Tata is located on the Vienna-Budapest main railway line. Unfortunately, the international trains running between the two capitals do not stop here, but the journey can be easily achieved without a transfer from Budapest (South Station) or with one transfer from Vienna (Vienna Centrale). Traveling is easy with the help of today's route planners, but if necessary, we are available for planning or in case of problems, we can also help with transportation.

Tata can also be reached by bus from Budapest (Népliget Bus Station).

Tata can be easily reached by car from many bird ringing centres, from the M1 highway (European route E60) between Vienna and Budapest. You have to turn off at junction 67. Motorway access is subject to a toll (https://www.hu-vignette.com/en/). The smallest unit that can be purchased is the 10-day e-vignette.

We will help everyone in organizing the trip. We collect travel details and make sure everyone arrives on time. If necessary, we look for a quick solution and in the event of a problem, we help you get there. Details later.

Preliminary program plan

Excursion

The Lake Old in the city of Tata is also an excellent birding spot, so you can walk to the shore even during the breaks in the meeting. It is especially exciting in the evenings, when the wild geese enter the lake.

We plan the organized trip to the lakes north of the city of Tata, which is only a few kilometres from the meeting place. These lakes are also a part of the Lakes by Tata Ramsar Sites. Here we can observe the birds of the lakes that have been drained in October (low water level) for the winter period. We visit the Ferencmajor Bird Ringing Station, near Naszály (operated by Hundred Longings Nature Conservation Association). The excursion will be organized in the morning, after which lunch will be again in Tata.

Contacts

The local organizer is the Hungarian Bird Ringing Centre, Birdlife Hungary.

For questions about local organization, travel and accomodation please contact Zsolt Karcza email: Karcza.zsolt@mme.hu

To apply for funding to help you attend the meeting please contact the EURING treasurer, Daliborka Stankovic email: daliborkabstankovic@gmail.com

To offer a talk, suggest issues for discussion or put forward agenda items for the business meeting please contact Rob Robinson email: rob.robinson@bto.org and Juan Arizaga email: jarizaga@aranzadi.eus