From pigeons to arctic terns to hummingbirds, birds evoke a whole range of emotions in us. Ornithologist Tim Birkhead tells us the stories

About this event
This is a hybrid event - both in person and online. The lecture inhouse will be followed by a brief wine reception in the library. Please book the right ticket!

Since the dawn of human history, birds have stirred our imagination, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science, faith, art and philosophy. Looking to the skies above, we have variously worshipped birds as gods, hunted them for sustenance, adorned ourselves in their feathers, studied their wings to engineer flight and, more recently — thankfully — we have attempted to protect them. I believe that by understanding our past relationships with birds will help us preserve our current empathy for birds. The story is one that merges, history, science and passion.

Tim Birkhead is emeritus professor of behaviour and evolution at the University of Sheffield and a Fellow of the Royal Society. His research on promiscuity and sperm competition in birds re-shaped our understanding of bird mating systems. Tim has been president of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology and the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. He has studied guillemots — mainly on Skomer Island — for 50 years. As well as a passion for research, Tim is committed to the public understanding of science as has written several popular science books, including Promiscuity (2000), The Wisdom of Birds (2008), Bird Sense (2012), The Most Perfect Thing: the Inside (and Outside) of a Birds’ Egg (2016). His most recent book is Birds and Us (2022).

This is an in-person event. It will not be recorded.