2025 BOC Meetings

Saturday 20 September
Avian Odyssey 25

 

Gannets © Ben Andrews / RSPB

We hosted our annual event, Avian Odyssey in the Flett Theatre at the Natural History Museum, London on 20 September 2025.

Contributors

Monday 26th May

The Founding Feathers of the Barbary Dove Streptopelia risoria

Location: The Barley Mow, 104 Horseferry Rd, London SW1P 2EE.

Time: The talk will start at 6.30pm ( doors open at 6.00) aiming to finish at about 7.45pm. If you wish to eat afterwards please place your order in the pub downstairs prior to the talk.

Linnaeus wrote about this bird, “nobis communis Turtur” (our common Turtle Dove), based on the fact that it was commonly kept in Europe.  However, despite being common, the Barbary Dove has confused ornithologists, its origin and history having been a long-standing mystery. Although recent DNA work has now proved otherwise, some still consider the Barbary Dove and Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto to be the same species. As a domesticated bird, Barbary Dove has a world-wide distribution, and feral populations can flourish in the right habitats.  The Eurasian Collared Dove now also occurs in most parts of the world due to its natural expansive drift, partly with some human help. Where the two species meet, they can hybridise, further confusing the picture.  This talk will discuss the Barbary Dove’s true ancestry and consider its impact on current Eurasian Collared Dove populations.

Hein van Grouw is one of the senior Bird Curators at the NHM at Tring. Besides his nearly 30 years as a curator with a huge interest in nomenclature and taxonomy, he is also, like his predecessor Derek Goodwin, a keen bird breeder.  He bred his first canaries when he was seven and got his first doves three years later. Since then, he has researched many different colour mutations in domesticated pigeons and different dove species, publishing the results in a variety of journals.

Monday 24th March

Interesting Bird Nests & Eggs – ­ writing a popular book on 250 years of avian architecture. 

Abstract:  Starting in 1754 the Natural History Museum, UK has gradually assembled one of the largest and most comprehensive series of ornithology specimens in the world.  There are over a million bird specimens in its research collections including several hundred thousand sets of eggs and nearly 5000 nests.   For the last 23 years, Douglas G. D. Russell has been the curator responsible for the museum’s irreplaceable, historical archive of avian architecture. Over two years of work has resulted in a new book featuring 120 species accounts and incredible photography by Jonathon Jackson.  Each account showcases a remarkable example of a nest and / or egg selected from 113 different bird families collected between 1768 and 2020.  Using outstanding examples featured in the book, Douglas will discuss how ornithology, ecology, conservation, and history are interwoven into each specimen.

Biography: Douglas G. D. Russell is the Senior Curator responsible for the internationally renowned birds’ egg and nest collections at the Natural History Museum (NHM). After studying Biological Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University, he began his curatorial career at the Royal Museum of Scotland (now National Museum of Scotland) preparing bird specimens from the 1996 Sea Empress oil spill – an environmental catastrophe which resulted in the death of thousands of birds including Common and Velvet scoters, Guillemots, Red-breasted mergansers, and Razorbills amongst many others.  Curatorial work at both the Natural History Museum and Scarborough Museum followed before taking on a new role leading public engagement in taxonomy and systematics at the NHM.  In 2002 he became the curator of the egg and nest collection as part of a team of bird curators at the Natural History Museum, Tring.