PROGRAMME for 2026
Upcoming Meetings
Sri Lanka and its Endemic Birds
29th June 2026, 18:30, Barley Mow, 104 Horseferry Rd, London SW1P 2EE
This is an in-person event only, but a recording will be uploaded to YouTube for anyone unable to attend.
In the first part of this illustrated talk, Author-Photographer Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne points out that the tropical island of Sri Lanka is disproportionately rich in species. He considers factors that drives this and makes the case that Sri Lanka is one of the best all-round wildlife destinations in the world. The talk will also briefly outline the top birdwatching and wildlife watching sites in the island, with a focus on the top sites for endemics. The second part of the talk will focus on the 34 endemic species of birds, where they are found and a few behavioural highlights. A diverse range of bird families in Sri Lanka have produced endemics ranging from the Sri Lanka Spurfowl to Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill to the montane endemic, Sri Lanka Whistling-thrush. Some are confined to small areas of habitats whilst some endemics such as the Sri Lanka Small Barbet and Sri Lanka Lesser Flameback continue to thrive even in large cities.
Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne
Gehan is amongst a handful of field naturalists in the world who have written and photographed field guides spanning terrestrial mammals, marine mammals, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, wild flowers and trees. His photographic field guide to the birds of Sri Lanka now in its second edition remains the only comprehensive photographic guide. He has been the Chair of the London Bird Club for ten years and is also a Trustee of the British Ornithologists’ Club. According to Rohan Pethiyagoda, an internationally renowned biodiversity explorer, ‘Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne is without question the most celebrated field naturalist Sri Lanka has produced’. British TV Naturalist Bill Oddie has said no single individual has done so much to publicise a country for its wildlife.
For more information or to register your interest for this free event please see our page on Eventbrite.
An Evening with the Sunbirds of the World
Thursday the 22nd of October 2026, Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BF
Annual Linnean Society and British Ornithologists’ Club Lecture by Professor Robert Cheke on what’s new about sunbirds and their allies.
This is an in-person event only. The talk will be followed by a drinks reception in the historic library of the Linnean Society, where a paid bar will be available.
Sunbirds are only found in the Old World, but they play similar ecological roles to the New World Hummingbirds. Together with accounts of the flowerpeckers, spiderhunters and sugarbirds, the sunbirds were described by Robert Cheke and the late Clive Mann in Sunbirds. A Guide to the Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters and Sugarbirds of the World, published by Christopher Helm in 2001 with illustrations by Richard Allen. A second edition of this book entitled Sunbirds of the World. Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters and Sugarbirds appeared in 2025 with updated information and additional illustrations including photographs of all of the 218 species. The talk will describe and discuss recent taxonomic changes in these groups and new research on their breeding behaviour, pollination roles and physiology.
Robert Cheke is Professor Emeritus of Tropical Zoology at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London’s Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. Before studying zoology at the Universities of St. Andrews and Leeds, Robert worked as a field assistant at the British Trust for Ornithology, then based at Tring. His research work has frequently taken him to sub-Saharan Africa, where he has been able to follow his passion for sunbirds, which began during undergraduate expeditions to Ghana and Kenya. His other ornithological interests include the biology and control of Red-billed Quelea birds Quelea quelea, West African birds (he wrote a BOU Checklist on the Birds of Togo with Frank Walsh), and bird-ringing in the UK. A specialist on the vectors of onchocerciasis (“River blindness”), Robert has also worked extensively on locusts and grasshoppers and mathematical modelling of a variety of biological systems.
To purchase a ticket for this talk please see our page on Eventbrite or the Linnean Society Website.
Note that we offer some ticket concessions to make this talk as accessible as possible.