Opinions expressed in this feature are not necessarily those of 'British Birds' R & M Conference 1990 The 22nd BTO Ringing and Migration Conference, attracting 341 participants, was held at the Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, from 5th-7th January. Tony Cook kicked off the new decade with an often-amusing travelogue about Manomet Banding Station in America. Some of the bird-in-hand pictures were astonishing for the twee way the handlers tried to disguise their handling, but not as astonishing as the news of Manomet's new ringing-hut, now completed--a palace at a mere $900,000! 'Lifetime reproduction in birds' was the stimulating presentation given by Ian Newton on the Saturday morning. His much-studied Sparrowhawks Actipiter nisus showed amusing likenesses: perhaps we could all accept that very few individuals in a population actually make any contribution to the succeeding generation, but who ever dared to suggest before that there is a benefit for females to be larger to breed successfully? Tony Fox launched the afternoon session with 'Why ring waterfowl?--for Brownie Points?' and at once challenged Ian Newton's suggestion that the Sparrowhawk is the most beautiful British bird--it is of course the Gadwall Anas strepera, or Cootmugger, a bird about which we know nothing, or so Tony's blank slide would suggest. The wealth of data gained from ringing and colour-marking Greenland White-fronted Geese Anser atbifrons flavirostris clearly demonstrates the repeated use that individual birds make of specific food-fields in their wintering areas (far too often those in favour of developments of one kind or another